By IANS,
Jagdalpur (Chhattisgarh) : Home Minister P. Chidambaram reached this Chhattisgarh town Wednesday to attend a ‘martyrs’ ceremony’ for the 76 security personnel massacred by guerrillas in the worst attack since the Maoist rebellion began 43 years ago.
State Governor Shekhar Dutta and Chief Minister Raman Singh were also at Jagdalpur, the district headquarters of Bastar district, for the grim function to remember the dead troopers.
Hundreds of Maoists trapped over 80 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel on a hilly stretch in Dantewada district Tuesday afternoon and went on a killing spree using pressure bombs and automatic weapons. In no time, at least 74 CRPF men and a Chhattisgarh police officer lay dead in the inhospitable area in the heart of the country where the rebels have run a de facto state for decades, enlisting the support of a large number of impoverished tribals.
According to a home ministry spokesperson in New Delhi, Chidambaram will also review the security situation in the state before returning to the national capital in the evening.
“Something has gone very wrong…They seem to have walked into a trap set by the Naxalites. This shows the savage nature of the CPI-Maoist, the brutality and savagery they are capable of,” he had said Tuesday.