Chhattisgarh: Two CRPF personnel injured in blast of IED planted by Naxalites

Image used for representational purpose. Pic/iStock

Two personnel of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) were on Monday injured when a pressure improvised explosive device (IED) planted by Naxalites went off in Chhattisgarh's Bijapur district, police said, reported PTI.

According to a PTI report, the incident took place at 10.30 am near Tekameta hill under Gangaloor police station limits when a team of the CRPF's 85th battalion was out on an area domination operation from Pusnar camp, located around 400 km from state capital Raipur, an official said.

While the team was cordoning off the area, the pressure IED exploded, injuring two CRPF personnel, he said.

The injured jawans were shifted to the district hospital in Bijapur, the official said, adding they will be airlifted to Raipur for further treatment.
Search operation is underway in the area, he told the news agency PTI.

Earlier in February, in separate incident three personnel of the Central Reserve Police Force sustained injuries in an improvised explosive device (IED) blast during a search operation in the forest area of Jokepani, Jharkhand, the CRPF officials had said. According to the CRPF officials, they had also recovered 4 rifles including LMG along with the Jharkhand police. "A search operation was launched by the joint team of 209 CoBRA and Jharkhand Police in the forest area of Jokepani, Nawatoli, Latehar, Jharkhand," CRPF had said in a statement adding that all the jawans had been evacuated and were getting medical treatment at Ranchi. Earlier, in a joint operation in Bihar's Maoist-affected Aurangabad, the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and Bihar police had seized 162 Improvised Explosive Devices (IED) and other equipment on January 28. In a statement, CRPF had said, "With the intensive operations conducted by CRPF and Bihar Police against the outlawed Maoists, the State is inching towards normalcy. The operations are continuing in the areas which were earlier considered to be strongholds of Maoists, with the objective of demining the IEDs planted by the Maoists and recovering arms and ammunition that they must have left hidden while fleeing in haste."

(With inputs from agencies)