BSF personnel killed in IED blast in C'garh ahead of polls

A Border Security Force (BSF) personnel was killed when Naxals detonated an improvised explosive device (IED) in Chhattisgarh's Kanker district on Sunday, just a day ahead of the first phase of Assembly polls in the state, police said.

The explosion took place in a forest when a BSF team was out on an area domination operation in view of the polls on Monday, Inspector General of Police (Raipur range) Dipanshu Kabra told PTI.

When the patrolling team was in the forest between Kattakal and Gome villages, around 200 km away from the state capital Raipur, the ultras blew up the IED, he said.

BSF sub-inspector Mahendra Singh was seriously injured in the blast and succumbed to injuries on way to hospital, said Kabra, who is the nodal officer for election-related security in the state.

Reinforcement was rushed to the spot, he said, adding that a search operation was still underway in the region.

This is the fourth IED blast triggered by Naxals in Chhattisgarh in the last 15 days.

Naxalites have called for a boycott of polls in the state and have executed half-a-dozen attacks in the last 15 days, three of them major ones which left 13 people dead, including a cameraman of national broadcaster Doordarshan who was covering the election campaign.

Polling parties are being sent to their destination amid tight security, election authorities said.

On November 8, four civilians and a CISF jawan were killed when Naxals detonated an IED in Dantewada district.

Besides, two BSF jawans were injured in an IED blast on November 2 in the same area in Kanker district.

Before that on October 27, four Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel were killed and two others injured after Maoists blew up their bullet proof bunker vehicle with an IED in Bijapur district.

The 90-member Chhattisgarh Assembly will go to polls in two phases -- on November 12 and 20 -- and the results will be announced on December 11.

The first phase of polls on Monday will cover 18 constituencies of eight Naxal-affected districts that include Bastar, Kanker, Sukma, Bijapur, Dantewada, Narayanpur, Kondagaon and Rajnandgaon.