A Chhattisgarh Armed Force (CAF) personnel was martyred after he sustained a grave injury in an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) blast triggered by the Maoist in Narayanpur of Chhattisgarh on December 13.
The fateful incident occurred at a time when ceremonial formalities about the oath-taking ceremony of the newly elected Chief Minister were going on in the capital, Raipur.
According to the reports, a joint team of personnel were out on a routine area-dominating exercise in the Aamdai Ghati region under Chhotedongar Police Station of Narayanpur when armed cadres of the banned CPI Maoist opened indiscriminate fire upon the combing party to which the forces retaliated heavily. However, during the exchange of fire, the extremists also triggered an IED blast in which one of the personnel was martyred.
The deceased jawan has been identified as Kamlesh Sahu of the CAF; a resident of the Janjgir-Champa district. Another personnel, identified as Vinay Kumar also, sustained injuries in the attack, following which he was rushed to nearby healthcare facilities where he is being treated.
It is to be noted that the Chhotedongar region is considered to be prone to such attacks, and the extremists have time and again carried out similar attacks in the region. Recently, the ultras had also triggered an IED blast in which at least two civilians were killed while one was critically injured. Following the attack, the Maoist outfit, in a press note, had also claimed that the area was covered with IEDs and that similar explosions would occur if the Aamdai mines remained operational.
In another attack carried out in the region, the Maoist outfit had recently also killed a local Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) worker who had been hacked to death on December 09. The deceased functionary of the party has been identified as Komal Manjhi.
The incident occurred when Manjhi went to visit a temple in Chhotedongar Police Station limits when the extremist hacked him to death with a sharp weapon. It’s been learnt that the deceased has been the target of the ultras for quite some time and was shifted to the district headquarters along with his uncle during the state assembly elections. It was reported that Komal had recently returned to his village.
IED blasts in Sukma
It is to be noted that recently, the extremist had also carried out back-to-back IED explosions in the Konta region of the insurgency-hit Sukma in which a total of three Jawans were injured. The first explosion occurred at around 10 am when a pressure IED was detonated on December 11, injuring two personnel of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and Commando Battalion for Resolute Action (CoBRA).
It was reported that the blast occurred near the Satlong village under the Kistaram police station of Sukma when the personnel were out providing security to the road construction work in the region. On the following day, the ultras also detonated another IED in the region, leaving other personnel of the security forces wounded.
It is to be noted that the Maoists planted IEDs in the regions under their holds, harming the advancing party of the security forces during the counter-insurgency drives. It is worth mentioning here that a significant number of Security personnel and civilians have so far died in numerous explosions triggered by the extremists in the Maoist-affected regions of the country.
