Raipur: Naxals triggered an IED blast in Chhattisgarh’s Narayanpur district and killed two ITBP personnel and left two others injured on Saturday. It happened when the troops were on their way back from an operation against Naxals in Ghurbeda. UHL said four soldiers were injured in the blast of which two died later on.
Amar Panwar and K. Rajesh, were filmed slitting the throats of two Hindi-speaking men, both martyred soldiers of the 53rd battalion of the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP). All four of the wounded soldiers were taken to a district hospital in a nearby town, but Panwar and Rajesh died from their injuries before they could be airlifted to Raipur. The two other men who were injured are said to be in critical but stable condition.
The clash said to have occurred during the joint operation between ITBP and Border Security Force (BSF) forces. The security forces were coming back to their headquarters after conducting a sweep operation when the explosion happened. The patrol that included Orchha, Mohandi and Irkabhatti was conducted as part of the continous anti Naxal operation after a recent face off between Naxals and police in the region.
Superintendent of Police Prabhat Kumar said the IED laid by the Naxals went off during the troop movement along a jungle path. “A soldier stood on the IED which detonated and resulted to loud explosion that caused confusion within the compound,” he said.
After the explosion, all the harmed military men were rushed to the nearest medical center. However, Panwar and Rajesh could not live after the critical injuries which they had received. Their fellow soldiers safely got to the base camp.
SP Prabhat Kumar also stated commenting on the use of IEDs by the Naxals say that the Naxals have adopted the use of IEDs since getting acquainted with pressure build-up on their part by security forces in the region. He said that due to the successful anti-Naxal operations, the Naxals have been unable to face direct operations and have to resort to such incidents.
This operation just shows that security forces are facing lots of difficulties in order to neutralize Naxal infrastructure in the area. However, though recently security forces are showing achievements in anti-Naxal operations, the usage of IEDs as fatal weapon continues to be a strong criminal armory of Naxals targeting patrolling soldiers in forested and inaccessible terrains.