Amit Shah Travels to Chhattisgarh to Pay Homage to Naxal Attack Martyrs, Says Bloodshed Will Not be Tolerated

A day after vowing a befitting response to the Naxals, who killed 22 security personnel in a deadly attack, Home Minister Amit Shah on Monday will visit the injured soldiers and pay homage to the martyrs in Chattisgarh.

Shah on Sunday said that the battle against the extremists will be won through joint efforts of the central and state governments. The union minister also reviewed the situation with top security officials arising out of the violence perpetrated by the Naxals.

“Our security men have lost their lives. We will not tolerate this bloodshed and a befitting reply will be given at an appropriate time”, he said in Assam’s Sualkuchi, before leaving for the national capital after cutting short his electioneering in the state.

As per schedule, at 10:30 am on Monday, Shah will arrive in Jagdalpur, where he will lay a wreath on martyrs and pay last respects. Later at 1 pm, he will arrive at Basaguda CRPF camp to interact with state police personnel and CRPF officials. Following lunch, at around 3:20 pm the Union Minister will visit the injured soldiers admitted in Ramakrishna Hospital, Narayana Hospital, and MMI hospital.

On Saturday, soon after his return from Assam, the home minister held a high-level meeting to review the security situation in Chhattisgarh.

So far, bodies of 17 security personnel were recovered from the jungles of Bijapur in Chhattisgarh, raising the death toll to 22 in the worst ever Naxal attack in four years that resulted from an ambush by some 400 insurgents who surrounded the jawans from three sides in an area devoid of vegetation and rained on them machine gun fire as well as IEDs for several hours.

CRPF Director General Kuldeep Singh, who was directed by Home Minister Amit Shah to visit the state, acknowledged that his personnel were “surprised and ambushed” during the attack Saturday that lasted several hours. Other officials in the know of the developments said the forces may have been waylaid by the Naxals.

Out of the total 22 fatalities, the CRPF lost eight men including seven CoBRA commandos while one jawan is from the Bastariya battalion, eight from DRG, and five from Special Task Force. A CRPF Inspector is still missing, they said on Sunday.

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