Sacrifice of 25 CRPF jawans will not go in vain, PM Modi on Sukma encounter

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday described the Maoist attack on the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel in Chhattisgarh's Sukma earlier in the day as cowardly and deplorable.

Condemning the attack, in which 25 CRPF jawans lost their lives while six other sustained injuries, PM Modi, on Twitter, claimed that the sacrifice of the martyrs will not go in vain.

Check out the series of tweets here:

https://twitter.com/narendramodi/status/856498236856520708

https://twitter.com/narendramodi/status/856498422794248193

https://twitter.com/narendramodi/status/856498526657826816

The pre-planned massacre, which is the deadliest attack by Maoists since 2010, started at around 1 pm when the personnel of the 74 Battalion were sanitizing the area for the construction workers, who were building a road.

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The Maoists firstly sent out locals to know about the position of the CRPF officials, said one of the survivors.

"Soon we were attacked by 300 of them who included villagers, women and the militia-types in black uniforms. They carried automatic weapons, AK 47 and Insas rifles," he said. The injured officials were airlifted and were sent to Raipur and Jagdalpur for treatment.

After coming across the news of attack, Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh cut short his visit to Delhi and returned to Raipur for an emergency meeting.

Sukma belongs to south Bastar, which has been under Maoist threat since decade.

Earlier in 2010, 76 CRPF officials had been assassinated in Dantewada during an area domination exercise.