Nine people injured as Maoists blow up SUV using IED in Chhattisgarh

Nine people were injured, one of them critically, after Maoists blew up a civilian vehicle using an improvised explosive device (IED) in Chhattisgarh's Bijapur district on Wednesday, police said.

The incident took place around 7.45 pm near Peddakodepal village when the victims were heading towards neighbouring Dantewada district in an SUV to visit a fair, Bijapur Superintendent of Police Govardhan Ram Thakur told PTI.

"All the nine occupants, including the driver, of the vehicle, were injured in the blast," he said.

After being alerted, a police team rushed to the spot and admitted the injured people to a hospital, Thakur said, adding that the condition of one of them is reportedly serious.

Police suspect that the rebels might have planned to target the security forces, whose movement has been intensified in view of the Lok Sabha elections, but mistakenly attacked the civilian vehicle.