Raipur: As many as eight security personnel were martyred and one driver was killed following an attack by Naxals in neighbouring Chhattisgarh State. 

IG Bastar Sundarraj Pattilingam informed eight Dantewada District Reserve Guard (DRG) Jawans and one Driver lost their lives after their vehicle was blown up by Naxals through an IED blast.

The incident occurred at a location on the Kutru-Bedre road when a team of DRG Jawans of the Chhattisgarh State Police were returning after carrying out a joint operation of Dantewada, Narayanpur and Bijapur this afternoon.

The Jawans were travelling in a Scorpio SUV when the attack took place around 2.15 p.m. on Monday.

The impact of the blast was so much that the Jawan's SUV flung several feet in air before its pieces dispersed in different directions away from the road.  

A deep crater formed in the middle of the road.

Automatic weapons such as AK 47 and Self-Loading Rifles were recovered from the site. Top security officials said to IANS a search operation is still on at the site.

The IED blast killing nine security personnel took place a day after an encounter of five Naxals in Bastar region. 

The encounter, which began on Saturday at a forest in south Abujhmaad along the border of Narayanpur and Dantewada districts, killed five Maoists including two women. 

Head Constable of DRG, Sannu Karam was also killed during the gunfight.

The IED attack comes within days of Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s announcement that the security forces were committed to ending Maoism by March 2026.