Gadchiroli: Fifteen security personnel and their driver have been killed in Maharashtra’s Gadchiroli after a powerful explosion, set off by Maoists, blew up their vehicle. An improvised explosive device (IED) blast was triggered on a police vehicle in the Maoist-affected district that borders Chhattisgarh.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi termed the attack ‘despicable’ and said that the ‘perpetrators of such violence will not be spared’, reports the ndtv.com.

The incident comes hours after Maoists torched 25 vehicles at a road construction site in Kurkheda of Gadchiroli district at around 3:30 am. They torched the vehicles, which were parked along the road, using kerosene and diesel, police officer Shailesh Balkawade.

Over two weeks ago, another IED blast was set off near a polling booth in Gadchiroli on April 11, during the first phase of the national election. No one was injured in the incident. A day before that, a Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) trooper was critically injured in an IED blast in Gadchiroli.

Today’s Maoist attack comes on a day when Maharashtra is celebrating its foundation day. The Maoists were in the final stages of observing a week-long protest to mark the first anniversary of 40 of their members who were gunned down by security forces on April 22 last year.

In April last year, security forces had carried out one of the biggest anti-Maoist operations in Maharashtra in which 40 Maoists were killed. The operation was planned by C-60 commandos of the Gadchiroli police based on specific intelligence about a meeting of top dalams or Maoist squads

Gadchiroli voted in the first phase of national election on April 11.

On April 9, five people including a BJP legislator and four security personnel were killed in a Maoist-triggered IED blast in Chhattisgarh’s Dantewada district.