Dantewada: BJP MLA Bhima Mandavi was among the five killed as Naxals blew up his convoy near Nakulnar on Tuesday.
The incident occurred at Shyamgiri hills when the MLA's convoy was heading towards Kuwakonda from Bacheli area.
The Naxalites blew up a vehicle in the convoy with an IED and opened fire at the occupant.
Security forces have been rushed to the area.
"Mandavi was advised by police not to visit the area. After the attack, firing from both sides continued for half an hour. There were 5 more security personnel in a car following the BJP MLA's car, we are currently locating them," said Dantewada SP Abhishek Pallav.
The attack is reminiscent of a similar incident that took place in the Naxal hotbed of Bastar ahead of the assembly elections in May 2013. Twenty-seven people, including senior Congress leader Mahendra Karma and former Union minister V C Shukla, were killed in the ambush.
Before the assembly elections in November last year, a CISF personnel and three civilians were killed in Dantewada when an improvised explosive device planted by Naxalites tore through a bus.
Dantewada falls in the Bastar Lok Sabha seat which will go to polls in the first phase on April 11.
Mandavi was lone BJP MLA in Bastar
- Mandavi was seen as a big BJP face in Dantewada, as he was the only MLA from the party in the Bastar region.
- In the December 2018 Assembly polls, he defeated Congress candidate Devti Karma, who he had lost to in 2013.
- He was quite popular among the youth and was first elected to the state Assembly in 2008.
