Bhopal: Three civilians on Tuesday were killed, when Maoists blew up a diesel tanker by detonating an IED near Tumpal village under Todaki police station in Chhattisgarh’s north Bastar district of Kanker.
According to Kanker district senior superintendent of police K.L. Dhruv, the incident took place when the diesel-laden tanker was engaged in rail track laying work in Rowghat area in the district.
The fuel tanker was dispatched from Tumapal camp of the SSB to supply diesel to the construction vehicles engaged in Dallirajhra-Rowghat railway project work.
The three slain civilians, all tribals, have been identified as Rakesh Kodapi, Duneswar Singh and Ajey Kumar Salam.
The 235-km-long Dallirajhra-Rowghat-Jagdalpur broad-ga-uge railway project in Bastar, being undertaken to facilitate tra-nsportation of iron-ore extracted from the region as well as spread the rail network in the area, has been under attack by Naxals since its inc-eption a decade ago.
Maoists have been opposing the project and executed several attacks in the past, fearing that construction of the rail route will speed up development works in Bastar, thereby uprooting them from the region.
