Two ITBP personnel killed in Naxal attack in Chhattisgarh’s Narayanpur district

Two Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) personnel were killed in a bomb blast carried out by the Naxals in Chhattisgarh's Narayanpur district on Oct 19, officials said.

Two District Reserve Guard (DRG) — local police personnel — were also injured in the explosion and are stable, they said.

According to a senior police officer, Naxals detonated an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) blast when a joint team of ITBP, the Border Security Force (BSF) and the DRG was returning from an anti-Naxal search operation in Abujhmad — a hilly forest area, spread over 4,000 square kilometers.

The deceased personnel — Amar Panwar (36) from Maharashtra's Satara, and K Rajesh, also (36) from Andhra Pradesh's Kadappa — belonged to the 53rd Battalion of the ITBP, Narayanpur Superintendent of Police, Prabhat Kumar was quoted as saying.

According to him, the joint team including DRG’s police personnel from Orchha, Mohndi, and Irkbhatti of Narayanpur district had gone to Abujhmad for the search operation following information about the movement of Naxals.

While returning from the operation, the two jawans were killed in a blast in a forest near Kodlier village in Narayanpur around 11:30 am, he said.

In July this year, two jawans were killed and four injured in an IED blast by Naxals in Bijapur district. The incident took place when security forces were returning from an anti-Naxal operation and the pipe bomb exploded.

Two Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel were killed in June this year in a similar attack. They were on a routine patrol as part of a Road Opening Party (ROP) on a truck and bikes and the truck was blown up by the IED blast.

Notably, the state also recorded the highest number of killings of Naxalites in this year so far. Over 140 Naxals — also called Maoists — were gunned down by security forces in Chhattisgarh till June, according to official data.