Odisha: Police seize 2 kg IEDs from Kandhamal forests

Kandhamal (Odisha) [India], May 30 (ANI): The Kandhamal district police team in Odisha thwarted an attack plan by Maoists when they seized 2 kg of an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) near Tilakpanga forest in the Gochhapada police station area.

The Border Security Force Battalion stationed near Gocchapada police station limits had received intelligence information about the IED.

Acting on the intelligence reports, the security personnel of the district police, Kandhamal conducted an extensive search operation in the forest near Tilkapanga village of the Pahireju panchayat under the Gocchapada police station limits and recovered the planted IEDs. In the meantime, the Bomb Disposal Squad was also called to the spot.

The IEDs were defused with the assistance of the Bomb Disposal Unit (BDU).

The bomb was intended to target the Border Security Force (BSF), Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), Special Operation Groups of Police (SOG) and Anti-Maoist Operation Group.

In the past three days, the district has recovered two IEDs in a row.

The district police team has conveyed that they have further intensified their search operations to maintain peace and serenity in the region.

This incident was reported amid the ongoing Lok Sabha and Assembly elections in the state. However, elections in Kandhamal were held on May 20, in the fifth phase of the Lok Sabha elections.

Kandhamal Lok Sabha constituency is one of the 21 Lok Sabha (parliamentary) constituencies in Odisha state, which comprises the entire districts of Boudh and Kandhamal and parts of Ganjam and Nayagarh districts.

The assembly and Lok Sabha polls in the BJD-ruled state are being held across four phases, from May 13 to June 1.

The counting of votes for all phases in the state and elsewhere in the country will be held on June 4.