SUKMA: A group of Naxals set on fire six vehicles and machines engaged in road construction work in the insurgency-hit Sukma district of Chhattisgarh, police said on Thursday.
The incident took place on Wednesday night at Dhanikorta village under Kukanar police station limits where a road is being constructed, Sukma Superintendent of Police Shalabh Sinha said.
As per preliminary information, a group of ultras reached the village, located around 450 km from the capital Raipur, and set ablaze three trucks, two JCBs and a poclain machine parked there, he said.
All the vehicles and machines belonged to a contractor, he said.
Despite being advised to park the vehicles and machines at a police camp near the construction site after completing work for the day, the contractor left them at the village, the official said.
Soon after being alerted about the incident, security personnel rushed to the spot on Thursday morning and launched a search operation in the area, he added.
Naxals have frequently tried to disrupt road construction works in the state's Bastar division, comprising seven districts including Sukma, by launching attacks on security forces and damaging vehicles and machines used in those projects.
They feel the developmental works in the region and construction of roads will uproot them from the area, a police official earlier said.