Chhattisgarh: 5 security personnel, one civilian injured in IED blast in Bijapur

Five security personnel and a civilian were injured as Naxals detonated an IED in Chhattisgarh's Bijapur district on Wednesday. 

The blast took place in Bijapur Ghatt, around 7 kilometers from the district headquarters, in the morning. Four Border Security Force (BSF) jawans and a District Reserve Guard (DRG) were among those injured. 

An encounter between security forces and Naxals is currently underway, police said, adding that all injured have been admitted to a hospital in Bijapur.

"4 BSF jawans, one DRG and one civilian injured in IED blast in Bijapur Ghatti. All injured have been admitted to a hospital in Bijapur. Exchange of fire underway between security forces and Naxals, situation under control," P Sundarraj, DIG-Anti-Naxal Ops, said. 

This comes two days after the successful completion of the first phase of Assembly polls in Chhattisgarh. 18 Assembly seats in the Naxal-affected area went to polls on Monday.  The voter turnout in the first phase was recorded at 76.28, the Election Commission (EC) said on Tuesday.

In the 2013 Assembly polls, the poll percentage was 75.93. This time, the state recorded a rise of 0.35 in the poll percentage.

The impressive turnout shows that Naxals threats seem to have had little impact in the first phase of polling in eight Maoist-hit districts, a poll official said.

The highest polling percentage was recorded in Dongargaon (85.15), followed by Khujji (84.48), Khairagarh (84.31), Bastar (83.51), Kondagaon (82.84), Dongargarh (82.53), Keshkal (81.32), Chitrakot (80.31), Mohla-Manpur (80), Rajnandgaon (78.66), Kanker (78.54) Jagdalpur (78.24), Bhanupratappur (76.77), Antagarh (74.45), Narayanpur (74.40), Dantewada (60.62), Konta (55.30) and Bijapur47.35 per cent.

There were three encounters between security personnel and Naxals, and an IED blast on Monday in the districts that went to the polls but the voting process, held under heavy security cover, was not affected.

In remote Naxal-affected areas, the polling received a good response from voters who appeared excited to exercise their franchise, Sahoo said.

Over 1.25 lakh police and paramilitary personnel were also deployed in the 18 constituencies falling under Naxal-hit areas of Bastar, Kanker, Sukma, Bijapur, Dantewada, Kondagaon, Narayanpur and Rajnandgaon districts.

The second phase of polling for 72 of the 90 Assembly seats is scheduled to be held on November 20. The counting of votes will be conducted on December 11. 

(With PTI inputs)