36 cops, colonel killed in Indian rebels attacks

In the biggest-ever Naxalite attack in Chhattisgarh, 36 security personnel, including a Superintendent of Police, were killed when rebels ambushed policemen at three different places in a thickly forested pocket of Rajnandgaon district. According to police sources, the rebels killed two jawans in Madanwada area of Maanpur block, about 150 km from Rajnandgaon, in the wee hours today. Twenty-six jawans, including the SP, in the convoy were killed in the attack, a senior police official said. While most of the jawans including Choubey died on the spot, two jawans succumbed to their injuries at a hospital in late evening. After the landmine blasts, a massive search operation was launched in the area. Eight more jawans were killed when the rebels blew up vehicle carrying security personnel at about 8.30 pm near Sitagaon by detonating a powerful landmine blast, sources said. On the other hand, two Indian army soldiers, including a colonel, were killed in a powerful landmine explosion in Assam, officials said. A defence spokesperson said the army vehicle hit the landmine near the Balipara reserve forest area in Sonitpur district, about 210 km north of Assam's main city of Guwahati. "The impact of the landmine was severe with the vehicle blown up, killing the colonel and his driver on the spot," an army commander said. The remaining vehicles in the convoy were safe as they stopped the moment they saw one of the vehicle hit by the landmine. "The colonel was on his way to his base at Tenga in adjoining Arunachal Pradesh, bordering China, when the incident occurred," the army official said.

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