DRG jawan killed in Naxal triggered IED blast

A District Reserve Group (DRG) jawan was killed and one woman injured on Thursday in separate pressure bomb blasts triggered by Naxals in Chhattisgarh’s insurgency-hit Bastar division, police said.

While the jawan was killed in Bijapur district, the woman was injured in the explosion that took place in the neighbouring Dantewada.

“A team of security men was returning after carrying out an anti-Maoist operation when the jawan came under impact of the blast in Farsegarh police station area (Bijapur),” Bijapur Superintendent of Police K L Dhruv said. The joint contingent of Special Task Force (STF), DRG and police personnel from local police stations was out on the operation since November 5 to the interior forest of southern Bijapur.

On the way back on Thursday, constable Mudra Budhram inadvertently stepped over the pressure IED (improvised explosive device). Reinforcement was rushed to the spot and the body of the jawan was evacuated from the forest, he said. 

In a separate incident, a woman identified as Bhime Madkami (50) sustained serious injuries on legs in the blast near Kondapara village under Aranpur police station limits of Dantewada district.

“The incident occurred while Madkami was in the nearby jungle to graze cattle,” a police official said.