Naxal blast leaves 8-ft-deep crater

RAIPUR/NAGPUR: The Maoists, who had laid a mine near the bridge that connects Maharashtra-Chhattisgarh, triggered the blast as the ITBP company approached it. \'\'The ITBP camp at Kohka is a stone\'s throw from Maharashtra. But the site of the blast was at least half a kilometre from the Chhattisgarh border inside Maharashtra,\'\' said Vishwa Ranjan, the DGP, Chhattisgarh.



\'\'It was a powerful explosion, which left a crater eight feet deep and 10 feet wide,\'\' said IG R K Vij. The ITBP personnel were travelling in a convoy of two vehicles. The second vehicle was hit in the blast. The skirmish then shifted to the outskirts of the Sawargaon village on the Gadchiroli side, coming perilously close to a tribal hamlet. One of the hand grenades hurled — TOI couldn\'t confirm which side threw it — landed in the ashramshala premises, a local source said. \'\'It killed four people on the spot and left a few injured,\'\' he added. The gunbattle did not last long after this. No Naxal deaths were reported.



The victims were rushed to the rural primary health centres in Murumgaon. The dead have been identified as class I student Sunil Halami (7), class VI student Manglushai Hidko (11), DG Gawande, the cook of the ashramshala, and Manglarama Madavi, a villager. Sources said that the five seriously injured — Rameshwari Netam (12), Mukesh Potavi (7), Sarju Potavi (11), Kuber Singh Tekam (11) and Suhsila Hedao (12) — were first brought to Gadchiroli district hospital and later shifted to Nagpur.



Several senior officials of the district collectorate, including deputy collector Rajendra Kanfade and officials from district disaster management cell, were present at the Gadchiroli hospital.




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