A total of 11 people, including 10 policemen were killed, on Wednesday, in a blast carried out by Maoists in Chhattisgarh’s Dantewada. The incident took place under Aranpur police station limits when a team of the state police’s District Reserve Guard (DRG) was returning after an anti-Naxalite operation, a senior official was quoted by the Economic Times, India. According to its report, the area was located around 450km from the state capital Raipur. Naxalites blew up the mini-goods van in which the security personnel were travelling by using an Improvised Explosive Device (IED). Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel also confirmed the attack. NDTV, an Indian private Tv network in its report on its website, said the attack was the worst in two years. In April 2021, at least 22 police personnel were killed by Maoist fighters during an anti-insurgency operation in Chhattisgarh’s Sukma district. In the preceding month, five policemen were killed, and several others injured in a blast in the state’s Narayanpur district that local police said was a Maoist strike targeting a bus carrying more than 20 police personnel. The Maoists, also known as Naxals, have waged an armed insurgency against the government that had killed hundreds of people over six decades. They said they were fighting on behalf of the poorest, who had been left out of the country’s economic boom. “Since 1967, the group seen as the greatest threat to the country’s internal security have asserted control over vast swathes of land in central and eastern India, establishing a so-called “red corridor”. They operate from thick forests, and their operations against the Indian administration and forces are shrouded in secrecy,” the report further added.