CRPF officer injured in IED blast triggered by Naxals

An officer of the CRPF's elite CoBRA unit was injured today when an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) laid by naxals exploded in Chhattisgarh's Sukma district, police said.

The incident took place near Timilguda village, around 500 km from here, when a team of the Commando Battalion for Resolute Action (CoBRA) was out on an area domination operation, Sukma Superintendent of Police Abhishek Meena told PTI.

When the patrolling team was on way back to its camp, Assistant Commandant K Ijung inadvertently stepped on the pressure IED connection, triggering the blast, he said.

The assistant commandant, belonging to CoBRA's 201st battalion, received splinter injuries in his abdomen, he said.

Reinforcement was rushed to the spot and the injured officer was shifted to a field hospital of the paramilitary force in Chintalnar, Meena said.

Efforts were on to airlift the injured officer to Raipur, but the bad weather and continuous rainfall in the area were hampering the evacuation operation, another police official said.

The CoBRA is a specialised unit of the Central Reserve Police Force and is proficient in guerrilla tactics and jungle warfare. It is ranked among one most experienced and successful law enforcement units in the country.

Yesterday, 15 Maoists were gunned down in an encounter with security forces in a dense forest in Sukma, police earlier said.