Lapses in security under lens after strike by insurgents

A number of security lapses, ranging from inadequate combing operations to breach of norms, may have led to the killing of nine people in an IED blast by Maoists in Bijapur district of Chhattisgarh, officers aware of the matter said on Tuesday.

- Vikas Tiwari and Ritesh Mishra

The Maoists blew up a vehicle, killing eight security personnel and a driver who were on their way back to a base in Dantewada from a joint anti-Maoist operation in the jungles of Abujhmad that began on Friday.

The ill-fated SUV was the eighth in a nine-vehicle convoy.

News agency PTI quoted IGP (Bastar range) Sundarraj P as saying that five of the eight personnel killed on Monday were former Maoists.

According to security officers, the team should not have been travelling aboard four-wheelers, as they are more vulnerable to IED attacks carried out through the "foxhole method," which was likely used in this incident also.