2010 Dantewada bus bombing

On 17 May 2010, a bus travelling roughly 50 km from Dantewada, in Chhattisgarh's Dantewada district, struck a landmine. The explosion caused mass casualties, with fatality figures reported in a range from 31 to 44 people. Those killed included several Special Police Officers (SPOs) as well as civilian passengers who were on the bus at the time of the blast.

According to available reporting, this bombing was notable as the first Naxal (Maoist) attack to specifically target a civilian bus, marking a shift in the pattern of violence in the region, which had previously seen attacks primarily directed at security forces and their convoys.

The bombing occurred approximately one month after Dantewada district had already been the site of a much larger attack. In April 2010, a Maoist ambush in Dantewada killed 76 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel, described as the worst-ever massacre of CRPF jawans up to that time. The May 2010 bus bombing thus followed closely on the heels of that earlier, larger-scale attack, underscoring the intensity of Naxal-related violence in the district during this period.