The number of security personnel who got injured in IED attacks in Chhattisgarh has jumped to around 300 per cent in the first quarter of 2025, presenting a “formidable” challenge for them to meet the Centre’s deadline of eliminating Naxalites from the country by March 2026.
As summer peaks in the jungles of the “last Naxal bastion” of the central Indian state, the security agencies are “treading with caution” on roads and dirt tracks to avoid getting trapped by these IED blasts that have killed hundreds and led to loss of limbs for many over more than two decades of the insurgency.
According to official data accessed by PTI, the first quarter (January-March) of 2025 saw 23 improvised explosive device (IED) attacks, leading to injuries to 23 personnel from the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and other forces including Chhattisgarh Police and recovery of 201 such bombs weighing more than 500 kgs.
The comparative figures for the same period of last year show that there were nine IED attacks in Chhattisgarh, leading to injuries to six personnel and recovery of 85 such bombs weighing about 257 kgs.
The attacks have risen by around 150 per cent while the injuries to troops have gone up by four times in the first three months of this year, according to the data.
The entire year of 2024 saw 43 cases of IED attacks which led to recovery of 292 IEDs and injuries to 33 personnel including nine from the Central Reserve Police Force, the lead anti-Maoist operations force across the Left Wing Extremism (LWE) affected states.
“There is about 2.5 times spurt in IED attacks and four-fold increase in injuries to personnel this year in Chhattisgarh.
This is because the Naxals are not undertaking one-to-one combat as they are very low on arms, ammunition, manpower and morale,” a senior security officer posted in the Bastar region of the state said.
The security forces, hence, have been asked to scrupulously follow the old drill of walking the stretch rather boarding vehicles during operations and avoid taking the beaten track, he said.
On March 23 this year, two vehicle-borne Special Task Force (STF) personnel of Chhattisgarh Police suffered injuries in such a attack in Bijapur district as a convoy of eighteen vehicles was returning to the base, aided by the troops of the road opening party who sanitise roads.
