KUMUD JENAMANI
Jamshedpur, Sept 12: The driver and cleaner of a CRPF camp-bound tractor were seriously injured as an IED went off on a forest road under the Naxal-infested Goelkera Thana area in West Singhbhum on Tuesday afternoon.
The explosion took place after one of the wheels of the food-grain-loaded tractor came over a pressure IED near the CRPF’s Hatiburu camp.
In the impact of the blast, the tractor was badly damaged and the food supplies meant for the camp were also strewn on the wetland.
In the blast, the tractor driver Bablu Bodra and cleaner Lobo Gope were seriously injured. The two were immediately rescued by the CRPF jawans and taken to a primary health hub in the Sonua Community Center for first aid and later they were taken to the Chaibasa Sadar Hospital for better treatment.
The IED that exploded was obviously planted by the CPI-Maoist rebels who have laid seize of the Goelkera jungle, which falls under the Kolhan forest division, since January this year.
As the Naxals including some top rebel leaders have planted innumerable IEDs targeting paramilitary forces before sneaking into the Kolhan forest division and adjoining Porahat forest division, the police and paramilitary forces have launched anti-insurgency operations since January 11. But in the IED blasts so far about two dozen paramilitary jawans have been injured and about a dozen innocent villagers have lost their lives.
