23 dead and 32 wounded in political ambush

Chhattisgarh Congress chief Nandkumar Patel and local leader Mahendra Karma formed part of a convoy carrying state leaders and party workers when suspected Maoist rebels ambushed them at around 5:30pm yesterday. The convoy was returning from a campaign rally and had just passed through the Darba Ghati valley, in the Sukma area about 345km south of Raipur.

When the convoy stopped due to felled trees blocking the road, the vehicle at the front of the convoy was hit by a land mine while around 200 rebels opened fire.  Witnesses claimed that Nandkumar Pateland his son, Dinesh took shelter in a nearby ditch but were abducted shortly after. Reports held that the body of the Congress chief was mutilated.

32 people were also wounded in the ambush including former Federal Minister Vidya Charan Shukla. They were hospitalised at a hospital in the state capital, Raipur were the vice-president of the Congress party Rahul Gandhi visited them.

The President of India's Congress Party, Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh have today visited Chhattisgarh. Both leaders described the attack in Chhattisgarh as shocking. Mrs Gandhi that the ambush was an attack on India's democratic values.