Naxals set passenger bus on fire in Chhattisgarh's Bijapur district

Naxalites torched a bus after asking the passengers travelling in it to alighting Chhattisgarh's Bijapur district, a senior police official said on Friday.

No passengers were injured in the incident, he said.

Last evening, a private bus was on its way to Bareguda from Jagdalpur district headquarters when five to six rebels, dressed as civilians, stopped the vehicle in the Nalampalli forest area near Todempara village, around 450 kms from the state capital, the official told PTI.

The Naxalites asked the passengers to get down from the bus following which they set it ablaze, he said.

Security men rushed to the spot upon receiving information about the incident, the official said.

A combing operation has been launched in the region to nab the attackers.

On May 30 this year, Naxalites had torched an empty passenger bus in Narayanpur district, opposing the construction of a road in the Abujhmaad region - considered as a Maoist den.

In February, the rebels had set on fire a private passenger bus each in Bijapur and Dantewada districts during a bandh call given by them.

The police official said the agenda of the Naxalites is to keep villagers away from towns and development block headquarters.

The rebels commit offences like torching the buses to create a sense of fear among the people so that they refrain from using the local means of transport, he said.

The incidents of buses being set on fire by them were mostly reported in the areas where development works, including road construction, were underway, the official said.