IEDs found in Bastar as Sonia, Modi head to Chhattisgarh

Security forces today averted a possible landmine explosion on a vital road in poll-bound Chhattisgarh as they diffused two IEDs weighing 50 kg in the Dantewada area of the state. A joint squad of CRPF and state police detected two big Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) of 25 kg each kept in steel cases on the road between Dornapal and Jagargunda near Chintalnar in Sukma district. The forces were conducting an area domination exercise. The IEDs, concealed beneath, were diffused, a senior official said. The bomb squad has defused the IEDs and there is no report of injuries. The MHA had already issued alerts on a possibility of a Naxal attack in the state between 9-10 November. According to reports, Maoist chief Ganpatty was also spotted in Abujmad hills in Bastar. This is the same spot where Naxalites in 2010 had carried out the deadliest attack on security forces deployed for anti-Naxal operations as they killed 76 of them in a single ambush. [caption id=“attachment_1066185” align=“alignright” width=“380”]  Narendra Modi and Sonia Gandhi. Agencies.[/caption] Amidst reports that Maoists may attack leaders in the Bastar region, security forces have been told to keep a hawk’s eye on every suspicious movement. Security personnel have been put on high alert ahead of the visit of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Congress President Sonia Gandhi and BJP’s PM nominee Narendra Modi, to the poll bound Chhattisgarh state for election campaigning. Security has been heightened across the state, particularly in the Maoist-affected Bastar region, ahead of the visit by these VIPs, Director General of Police Ramniwas told PTI in Raipur on Wednesday. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s visit is scheduled on November 9 in Raipur, while UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi and Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi are set to visit the Maoist-affected Bastar region on November 7, even as Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi is set to visit Maoist-hit Kanker on November 8. Eighteen Maoist-affected constituencies in the eight districts of Bastar, Bijapur, Kondagaon, Sukma, Narayanpur, Dantewada, Kanker and Rajnandgaon will go to polls in the first phase, while the rest of the 72 constituencies will go to polls during the second phase on November 19. Chhattisgarh has a total of 1,67,97,368 voters and 21,418 polling booths have been set up to elect a 90-member state assembly. Taking a serious note of the Maoist threat, the Centre has sent an additional 400 companies (40,000 personnel) of paramilitary forces to ensure peaceful polling. With inputs from Agencies