Maoists blow up CRPF vehicle, kill trooper in Chhattisgarh

Raipur, Aug 6 (IANS) Maoist guerrillas blew up an anti-landmine vehicle in a forested stretch in Chhattisgarh's restive Bastar region, killing a trooper of Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) on the spot and injuring five others, police officials said.

"It was a powerful IED blast near Marande village (in Dantewada), which tossed up the anti-landmine vehicle in which six CRPF men of the 111 Battalion were on a patrol duty," Dantewada's Superintendent of Police Narendra Khare told IANS over phone.

One CRPF man died on the spot while five others were critically injured. Officials here at police headquarters said that injured troopers were airlifted from Dantewada to Raipur and were put in an intensive care unit at a private nursing home.

Dantewada is considered the Maoists' hotbed in Chhattisgarh. In April 2010, the rebels had slaughtered 75 troopers of the CRPF and a policeman, in a single attack which was the biggest ever attack carried out by leftist insurgents in India.