Jagdalpur, Apr 1 (UNI) Naxals on Saturday set a passenger bus on fire in Chhattisgarh's South Bastar region, police said.
An encounter between the police and the Naxalites. A bridge was also blown up, cutting off the connectivity of 20 villages to bijapur, the district headquarters, according to police.
Dantewada ASP Ramkumar Barman said the bus going from Barsur to Narayanpur was diverted by Naxals in the morning between Malewahi Ghotia and set the bus on fire.
The recently launched passenger bus was coming from Narayanpur towards Barsur Dantewada in the morning, he said.
Around 20 to 25 Maoists stopped the bus and set it on fire near Malewahi Ghotia. All the passenger drivers and conductors have reached the nearby Malewahi Central Security Force camp.
A force has been rushed to the spot. Naxals warned the driver not to drive a bus from Barsur to Narayanpur road. Naxals have also put up banner posters on the spot. Around 30 passengers were travelling in the bus at the time of the incident.
In Chhattisgarh, Naxals attacked a police patrol with a BGL bomb in Bijapur district today. There was firing from both sides in which no casualty was reported.
Bijapur Superintendent of Police Anjaneya Vaishnav said that a team of Central Security Force, Chhattisgarh Arms Force and District Reserve Police from Gangalur police station had left for Todka this morning.
Naxals attacked the police with bgl bombs near Sawar forest. There was firing from both sides for half an hour, no casualties were reported.
Yesterday evening, Naxals detonated a bridge on Gangalur road and damaged it.
According to Mr. Vaishnav, more than 20 villages have been cut off by naxals after a bomb exploded a culvert near Kikler on Ganglur road, 20 km from the district headquarters.
Bijapur Gangalur Road was constructed in 1917. More than 15 soldiers were martyred during this construction work.
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