At least eight CRPF jawans were killed in a powerful landmine blast in the Naxal affected Bijapur district of Chhattisgarh last evening. Director General of Police Vishwaranjan said, the naxalites triggered the IED blast near Pedakodepal village on National Highway 16 in Bijapur and fired at the security personnel. He said, eight CRPF personnel of 168 Battalion, including a driver, who were travelling in a TATA 407 bulletproof vehicle from their company headquarters in Murkinal to nearby battalion headquarters, were killed. The DGP said, one jawan was injured in the attack. The injured jawan has been admitted to a hospital in Jagdalpur.<br/>The bodies of the CRPF jawans killed in a powerful landmine blast in the Bijapur district of Chhattisgath on Saturday will be sent to their respective home states today. While 7 dead bodies of the jawans have been recovered, the body of another is still missing. Meanwhile chief minister Dr Raman Singh has expressed grief over the incident saying that the fight against naxals will continue.<br/>Police sources say that the naxalites had used a huge quantity of ammonium nitrate to trigger the blast which was massive enough to kill all the eight jawans travelling in the landmine protected vehicle. The blast was so powerful that the vehicle went into smithereens leaving only its chassis. This tragic incident, which comes barely a month after the equally tragic Tadmetla naxal attack killing 76 jawans, has raised questions relating to the use of vehicles in the naxal affected areas despite orders to the contrary. The very fact that the attack was planned and perpetrated with precision near the vicinity of the district headquarters of Bijapur and that too, on a concrete road should make the police sit up and think about the level of precognition and preparedness required for the police or the paramilitary forces to move about in the naxal affected areas in southern Chhattisgarh.