KUMUD JENAMANI
Jamshedpur, June 1: In a significant development against naxal activities, the police and paramilitary forces on Thursday recovered 11 IEDs from the Goelkera and Tonto thana area in West Singhbhum.
The recovered IEDs weighed 44 kgs and were planted on the forest paths at Tumbhaka and Ajandbera villages under the Tonto thana area and Kuida and Maridiri villages under the Goelkera thana area respectively.
Apart from these explosive devices, the police and paramilitary forces have recovered a spike hole from one of the villages.
The IEDs were first defused by a bomb disposal squad and later detonated at a safe place.
According to police sources, the detection of such a number of IEDs was made possible from the intelligence inputs gathered from the villagers. After getting to know about the exact spots of the plantation of those IEDs, the police and paramilitary forces carried out the recovery exercise with great caution.
A large number of CPI-Maoist rebels have entered into the Tonto and Goelkera thana areas in the dense Kolhan forest division since January this year. Having entered into the forest division, the Naxals had planted an unspecified number of IEDs at strategic points inside the jungle, intending to cause harm to the paramilitary forces.
Unfortunately, about a dozen innocent villagers have fallen victim to the IED blasts so far as most of the explosive devices are pressure bombs.
Besides the villagers about one-and-half dozen CRPF jawans have also fallen victim to the IED blasts during an anti-insurgency operation launched since January 11.
