RANCHI: Assistant Commandant Ajay Mallick, Commando Battalion for Resolute Action (CoBRA) of CRPF, was injured in an IED blast during a search operation being conducted against the Maoists in the Saranda jungles of West Singhbhum on Sunday.
Hours later, a jawan also got injured after receiving a bullet during an operation conducted post-IED blast.
The incident took place in the Marangponga area of Saranda, where security forces were conducting an intensive search operation in the forest.
According to police, a pre-planted explosive device exploded, leaving the Assistant Commandant injured. The Assistant Commandant Mallick sustained injuries in the blast. His condition is reported to be stable.
“One Assistant Commandant of CoBRA got injured in an IED blast. The injured officer was evacuated to a safer location. After providing first aid, he was airlifted to Ranchi for better treatment,” said Chaibasa SP Amit Renu.
"CoBRA jawan who received bullet injuries is being airlifted to Ranchi," he added.
Following the incident, extra vigilance is being maintained in the area and security forces have intensified the search operations in the surrounding areas.
The SP claimed that despite the IED blast, the morale of the soldiers remains high.
“Maoists have carried out such cowardly attacks in the past, also resulting in the deaths of many innocent villagers. Operations have been intensified in Saranda and surrounding areas,” said the SP.
Following the incident, security forces have intensified search operations in the area. The combing operation is still on.
This is the third such blast within a fortnight in the Saranda forests, in which one civilian was killed while another was injured.
Two jawans of the Cobra Battalion also got injured in a separate blast and are still under treatment.
Notably, Maoists are now restricted only to the Saranda jungles in Jharkhand as they have been whipped out from other pockets of the state.
According to an estimate, around 60-65 Maoists are supposed to be hiding in the Saranda jungles, where they have planted thousands of IEDs, which have become a challenge for the security forces.
The state police have launched a joint operation in the Kolhan and Saranda jungles of Chaibasa in November 2022.
Since November 2022, as many as six security personnel have lost their lives, while 20 others were critically injured, besides claiming the lives of nearly 22 civilians, leaving a dozen others critically injured, in IED blasts triggered by Maoists in the jungles of Chaibasa.
The joint operation, conducted by personnel from the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and Jharkhand Police, was launched following intelligence inputs about the presence of top Maoist leaders in the region, including Misir Besra, a senior CPI(Maoist) commander with a bounty of Rs 1 crore on his head.