Maoists set on fire iron ore-laden trucks in Chhattisgarh

RAIPUR - Around 60 armed Maoists set on fire at least six trucks loaded with iron ore for Essar Steel in Chhattisgarh’s violence-hit Dantewada district early Saturday, police said.

“Maoists came out of forests around midnight and stopped six trucks between Bhansi and Bacheli and set them on fire,” Dantewada Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) S.R.P. Kalluri told IANS on phone from Dantewada town, headquarters of the district.

The attack site is located some 420 km south of capital Raipur and within 2 km from Bacheli, a major iron ore mining facility of India’s top iron ore producer in public sector NMDC Ltd.

“The trucks that were burnt belonged to private contractors. The trucks were carrying iron ore for Essar Steel. The road was opened for vehicular traffic around 6 a.m.,” Kalluri said.

“The overnight act of Maoists was a planned move to terrorise people in Bastar ahead of Independence Day celebrations.”

The guerrillas announced a call to boycott Sunday’s Independence Day function. They felled trees on the hilly road to prevent security forces from reaching the site.

A home department official said of the 18 districts, 13 are hit by Maoists since late 1980s. The toll in Maoist violence has exceeded 2,000 since the state came into existence in November 2000 with nearly half the casualties suffered by security forces.

In the past three years between July 2007 and July 2010, the state has witnessed 1,948 attacks by Maoists in which 418 civilians and 435 policemen, including 75 Special Police Officers (SPOs), were killed.