3 personnel including an assistant commandant of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) was injured after a pressure improvised explosive device (IED) planted by Maoists went off in Bihar’s Aurangabad district late on Friday evening, a senior police official said on Saturday.
Police said that 205 Cobra battalion launched an operation against Maoists between Chakarbandha, Langurahi and Panchrukhia hilly and forest area of Gaya-Aurangabad bordering districts for the last two days.
“On Friday evening, the security forces came face-to-face with a group of Maoists, which led to the exchange of fire. When the forces started closing in on the group, the Maoists triggered an IED blast that caused injuries to three personnel identified as assistant commandant Bibhor Kumar Singh, radio operator-cum-havildar Surendra Kumar and Suman Pandey. The search and combing operation is still going on,” said Aurangabad SP Kantesh Kumar Mishra.
Police said that the injured personnel were evacuated from the spot and rushed to Madanpur primary health centre where doctor treated them and referred to Anugrah Narayan Medical college Hospital in Gaya. It took more than two and a half hours time to evacuate them from the spot.
CRPF PRO in Patna told news agency that two of the injured including assistant commandant and havildar were airlifted to New Delhi in an Air-ambulance and admitted to a hospital for better management. Their condition was stated to be critical. “The blast occurred at Karibadoh forest falling under Madanpur police station limit when a Cobra battalion engaged in a search operation against Maoists after receiving information about the presence of the hardcore,” PRO added.
The incident comes a week after CRPF’s special DG Nitin Navin, CRPF IG (Patna sector) and Gaya range IG visited the Aurangabad, particularly Madanpur police station area, to review the strategy for combating Maoism in some of the most treacherous terrains in the state.
However, the security forces have not been able to make decisive inroads in that area owing to difficult terrain and deep entrenchment of the Maoists, who also take advantage of the fact that these areas are on the border with Palamu district of Jharkhand.