11 personnel injured in Chhattisgarh IED blasts

Eleven security personnel were injured after Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) planted by Maoists went off during an anti-Naxalite operation in Chhattisgarh’s Bijapur district, an official said on Monday.

The explosions occurred on Sunday when a joint team of security personnel were out on an anti-Naxalite operation in the Karregutta Hills area under the Usoor police station bordering Telangana, he said.

Personnel belonging to the District Reserve Guard (DRG) and Bastar Fighters, both units of State police, and Commando Battalion for Resolute Action (CoBRA — an elite unit of the CRPF) were involved in the operation, he said.

The official said six explosions took place during the operation, in which at least 11 personnel, 10 of them from the DRG and one from the CoBRA, sustained injuries.

The injured CoBRA personnel, Rudresh Singh, is a sub-inspector with the 210th battalion, the official said.

Singh and two DRG personnel have sustained injuries to their legs, while three others suffered splinter injuries to their eyes, he said, adding that the wounded men were airlifted and admitted to a hospital in Raipur.

A doctor attending the injured personnel at a private hospital in Raipur said that three of them were operated on, while another jawan is undergoing surgery. Their condition is stable, he said.

In November last year, security forces had set up a camp in Tadpala village under the Usoor police station limits in Karregutta, which was considered a safe hideout for senior Maoists.

The Central and State security forces had carried out a 21-day-long comprehensive operation in dense forests around Karregutta Hills in April-May last year.