Close shave for security personnel as Naxals detonate IED in Chhattisgarh

Raipur, August 4: A group of security personnel had a close shave today as Maoists detonated a powerful improvised explosive device (IED) blast on a densely-forested route in Chhattisgarh’s insurgency-hit Bijapur district, police said.

No one was injured in the explosion. The rebels exploded landmine between Tarrem-Sarkeguda under Basaguda police station limits when a joint team of CRPF and its elite unit CoBRA was patrolling the region, a senior police official said.

"The explosion occurred near the patrolling team. However, no injuries or causalities were reported," he added. Soon after the explosion, a combing operation was launched in the region, around 450 km from here, to trace the attackers, he added.

In a separate incident, a team of CRPF’s 222nd battalion recovered two powerful IEDs from Jangla police station in Bijapur district.

A Road Opening Party (ROP) of paramilitary forces was carrying out its operation on Bijapur-Dantewada route, that heads through restive forests, during which they spotted the IEDs near Matwada village, the official said.

The explosive weighing 5 kg each were planted to harm security forces as they often use this passage during their operation in the area, he said adding the bombs were immediately destroyed.

PTI