Security personnel recover 3 IEDs from forest in Jharkhand

Chaibasa (Jharkhand), Jan 12 (PTI) Security personnel have recovered three improvised explosive devices (IEDs) from a forest in Jharkhand’s West Singhbhum district, a senior police officer said on Sunday.

The IEDs were allegedly planted by the outlawed CPI (Maoist) to target the security personnel engaged in anti-Naxal operations, the police officer said.

In the course of a combing operation on Saturday, the security personnel comprising CRPF, Cobra, Jharkhand Jaguar and district armed police detected the explosives planted in the forest near the Lowabera village under the jurisdiction of the Tonto police station of the Naxal-hit district, the Superintendent of Police, West Singhbhum, Ashutosh Shekhar, said.

The IEDs, weighing 5 kg each, were defused on the spot by the bomb disposal squad, he said.

The district police have been engaged in a massive combing operation for the last several months after receiving inputs about the presence of top Maoist leaders, including Misir Besra, in the core Kolhan area of the district.

Besra carries a bounty of Rs 1 crore on his head.

On Tuesday, a 7-year-old girl was killed and a woman injured in an IED blast allegedly carried out by Maoists in the district’s Jaraikela area.

The incident occurred when the girl went to a forest near the Tirilposi village to pluck leaves and collect firewood. She accidentally stepped on the IED thus triggering the explosion.