Two STF personnel killed, four injured in IED blast in Chhattisgarh’s Bijapur
RAIPUR, JULY 18 : Two jawans of the Special Task Force (STF) were killed and four personnel injured in a powerful improvised explosive device (IED) blast triggered by Maoists near Mandimarka forested terrain at Tarrem in strife-torn Bijapur district, about 380 km south of Raipur, the police said on Thursday.
“Based on a tip-off about the presence of senior Maoist leaders and cadres, an intelligence-based special operation was launched by a joint team of security forces comprised CRPF, elite Cobra, Chhattisgarh Armed Force (CAF), District Reserve Guards (DRG) and STF on July 16. The detonated IED blast hit the forces while they were returning after the search operation”, a police officer said.
There were consistent inputs about the movement of the rebels from Darbha division, West Bastar division and those belonging to PLGA military company no-2 of the banned Maoist organisation along the inter-district border areas of Bijapur-Dantewada-Sukma in the conflict-ridden Bastar zone.
The deceased STF men were identified as Constable Bharat Lal Sahu (resident of Raipur) and Constable Satyer Singh Kange (from Narayanpur district).
Reinforcement was rushed to the region and the search operation further intensified.
Owing to the bad weather conditions, the injured personnel Purushottam Nag, Komal Yadav, Siyaram Sori, and Sanjay Kumar couldn’t be air-lifted by a chopper to Raipur for immediate medical attention. They are now being shifted from Bijapur to Jagdalpur (district headquarter of Bastar) medical college hospital by road.
The outlawed CPI (Maoist) has been waging a protracted insurgency in Chhattisgarh for over three decades now.
-The New Indian Express
