Amit Shah assures Chattisgarh CM of all help following deadly naxalite attack

Union Home Minister Amit Shah has assured of all help in the event of 11 persons including 10 policemen being killed in a naxalite attack.

In a phone call with Chattisgarh Chief Minister, Bhupesh Baghel, Shah took stock of the situation and assured him that all possible help will be extended to the state.

Ten policemen and their driver was killed when their vehicle was blown up by an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) in the Bastar district of Chhattisgarh.

The policemen were returning from an anti-naxal operation that as launched following intelligence inputs. The policemen belonged to the District Reserve guard, a special force of the state police which comprises mostly local tribals who have been trained to combat Maoists.

The force has been instrumental in several operations against the naxalites in Bastar, which is a hot-bed of left-wing extremism.

"The news of the martyrdom of our 10 DRG jawans and a driver due to an IED blast targeting the DRG force which had arrived for anti-Naxal operation on the information of the presence of Maoist cadre under Aranpur police station area of Dantewada is very sad. We share the grief of their families. May their soul rest in peace," Baghel said in a tweet following the incidents.

The naxalites have wagged an armed insurgency against the government. They have killed hundreds of people in over six decades. They claim that they are fighting on behalf of the poorest people.

The CPI (Maoist) which is a proscribed terror group has been the greatest threat to India since 1967.