BHOPAL, FEBRUARY 20: In one of the biggest Naxalite attack in Madhya Pradesh, 22 policemen, including an additional superintendent of police, were killed in a landmine blast in Bastar on Sunday morning. The condition of the two surviving members of the 24-member police party is said to be serious.Acting on a tip-off that Naxalites were hiding in the nearby Bakulwahi and Kuchwahi forests, the police team led by Addl SP Bhaskar Dewan left the Narainpur police station around 9.30 am to apprehend them. But hardly 10 kms away, their vehicle was blown up by a landmine. Dewan, Sub-Inspector B N Netam, ASI Surendra Singh Thakur and 19 constables aboard the Tata 407 vehicle died on the spot.The IG and SP of Bastar left district headquarter Jagdalpur for the spot in morning itself and could not be contacted. Home Minister Nand Kumar Patel, State's Director General of Police S C Tripathi and Addl DGP (Intelligence) A N Singh also left Bhopal for Narainpur later in the day.Three days ago, timely detection of a landmine near Kandhari village, less than 2 km from the same police station had saved the lives of another police party, sources revealed."At that time also, we had received a similar tip-off and had rushed a police party to the suspected hideout of the PWG dalam. The policemen were lucky to have detected the landmine in time and neutralise it," a Narainpur police officer said.Last December, State Transport Minister Likhi Ram Kanwre was brutally murdered allegedly by Naxalites. The Narainpur incident has once again put the spotlight on the growing influence People's War Group (PWG) in the State. The blast appeared to be part of a renewed and more lethal campaign against the State Government by PWG, police sources said.After Sunday's incident the number of policemen killed in Naxal-triggered mine blasts since January 1991 in the State has gone up to 105. Ten of these 16 blasts have occurred in Bastar or adjoining Danetwada district carved out of it recently. In October 8, 1998, 16 policemen were killed in a landmine blast in the adjoining Dantewara district.Bastar, which borders with Andhra Pradesh in the South, Maharashtra in the West and Orissa in the East, has been the epicentre of Naxalite activities. Large tracts of this thickly forested tribal region are under virtual control of the PWG, police officials concede.According to the latest police intelligence, ten of the 17 armed PWG dalams active in Madhya Pradesh are concentrated in Bastar and Dantewada districts. The Naxalites had recently taken out public processions and held people's court at a number of places to throw an open challenge to the State government.
