Naxals set off 7 IED blasts, BSF man dies

■ BSF officer killed as Maoists target forces in different places ◗ As many as 12 Assembly constituencies in Bastar and 6 in the neighbouring Rajnandgaon district are going to polls on Nov. 12

On the eve of the first phase of the Chhattisgarh Assembly elections, Maoists triggered at least seven explosions on Sunday killing a Border Security Force ( BSF) subinspector while a rebel was gunned down in an encounter with police in separate incidents.

Naxals triggered seven improvised explosive device ( IED) blasts in one go in Koyali Beda in north Bastar district of Kanker targeting a BSF patrol party which was sanitising the area to facilitate movement of polling parties, leading to death of sub- inspector Mahendra Singh.

In another incident, the left- wing insurgents attacked a police search party at Bedre in Bijapur district, leading to a fierce gun battle.

A day before Bastar in Chhattisgarh goes to Assembly polls, Maoists resorted to violence in the insurgency- hit region on Sunday by carrying out serial blasts and attacking security personnel at different places, leading to the death of a BSF officer.

Naxals triggered seven improvised explosive device ( IED) blasts in one go in Koyali Beda in North Bastar district of Kanker targeting a BSF patrol party, which was sanitising the area to facilitate movement of polling parties, leading to the death of sub- inspector of the Central paramilitary force Mahendra Singh.

The slain BSF officer hailed from Bharatpur in Rajasthan. He was injured in the incident and later succumbed, a senior police officer posted in

Bastar told this newspaper.

Two BSF jawans were injured in another Naxal attack in the same area on November 2.

This was the fourth IED blast in Bastar in the last two weeks.

In total, five civilians including a Doordarshan cameraman and a CISF jawan were killed in the Maoist explosions at different places in South Bastar district in the last fortnight.

In another incident, the Left- wing insurgents attacked a search party comprising of special task force ( STF) personnel at Bedre in South Bastar district of Bijapur. This lead to a fierce gunbattle between the two groups that lasted for an hour.

Security forces recovered the body of a Naxal in Maoist uniform at the attack site after the encounter ended.

As many as 12 Assembly constituencies in Bastar and six in the neighbouring Rajnandgaon district are going to Assembly elections in the first phase of the polls in Chhattisgarh on November 12.