Post News Network
Koraput/Bhubaneswar: A BSF officer and a jawan were killed in an IED blast triggered by Maoists in the jungles of Koraput district Friday.
The troopers were on a bike patrol when the incident occurred, according to the BSF.
The strike came on a day when Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik termed Left Wing Extremism (LWE) as a major cause of concern for the state, adding recent activities of Maoists in Bolangir, Kalahandi, Kandhamal and Boudh districts was worrisome and needed to be handled effectively. Just a day before, the state’s Director General of Police (DGP) KB Singh said he was satisfied at the decline in Maoist activities in the state.
The incident occurred at around 1 pm when a team of about 20 Border Security Force (BSF) personnel were returning from a search operation in Dandabari village on 10 motorcycles and the first carrying the team commander and his jawan got trapped in the blast carried out by using a hidden bomb on the dirt track of Kaliajhula forests.
The jawan driving the bike – constable SP Panda, was killed on the spot while pillion rider and commander of the squad Deputy Commandant Sunil Kumar Behera succumbed to his injuries later at Koraput district headquarter hospital.
“The duo sustained fatal injuries from shrapnel and heavy explosives used in the IED hidden and planted under the road by Naxals,” officials said.
They said the bike was tossed high in the air due to the impact of the Improvised Explosive Device (IED) blast and the other nine motorcycle-borne teams immediately took positions suspecting gunfire from Maoists.
“However, the Naxals did not rain heavy gunfire on the patrol party and escaped into the jungles after firing a few shots,” officials said.
In order to escape getting trapped into IED and hidden explosive booby-traps in jungle tracks of Left Wing Extremism areas, the troops very rarely use four-wheelers and rely on motorcycles for movement.
The BSF has constituted a Court of Inquiry into the incident even as additional forces were deployed for sanitisation of the blast area and adjoining villages.
Trader shot dead
Boipariguda: A group of 30 armed ultras shot dead a businessman suspecting him to be a police informer at Dandabadi village under Boipariguda police limits in Koraput district Thursday night. The deceased was identified as Shibashankar Samant (40) alias Bapi. According to eyewitnesses, the ultras with around 100 of their supporters kidnapped Bapi not heeding his wife Sabita’s pleas for mercy. Sabita said she later found her husband’s bullet-riddled body lying 200 m away from their home.