Amid polling, Naxals trigger IED blast in Chhattisgarh's Bastar, no casualty reported
Raipur, Apr 11: Naxals triggered an IED blast on Thursday morning in Chhattisgarh's Narayanpur district in Bastar Lok Sabha constituency where voting is underway, a senior police official said.
No casualty was reported in the incident, he said. Narayanpur comes under the Bastar Lok Sabha seat.
"The
explosion
took
place
around
4.15
am
in
Farasgaon
area
on
Narayanpur-Dandwan
road
when
a
team
of
security
men
was
escorting
polling
personnel
to
their
booth,"
the
official
said.
Naxals
had
planted
the
explosive
underground
and
were
waiting
for
the
security
forces
to
arrive.
"However, when the rebels realised that security personnel had changed their route and were zeroing-in on them through a forest, they triggered the IED (improvised explosive device) blast in panic and fled the spot," he said.
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"No harm was caused to the security and polling personnel in the explosion," he added.
A thick security blanket, comprising around 80,000 state and paramilitary personnel, was thrown across the Bastar Lok Sabha constituency where polling is being held in its four Assembly segments - Dantewada, Konta, Bijapur and Narayanpur - from 7 am to 3 pm, he said.
The voting time in the remaining four Assembly segments - Bastar, Chitrakot, Kondagaon and Jagdalpur - is from 7 am and 5 pm, the official added.
Total seven candidates are in fray in the Bastar Lok Sabha constituency.
PTI