Two security personnel of the Special Task Force (STF) were killed while four others were injured as Naxalites detonated an improvised explosive device (IED) in Chhattisgarh's Bijapur district, said Bastar Police on Thursday. The incident took place on Wednesday night in Tarem area when a joint team of security personnel who were part of an anti-naxal operation in the district were returning from a search operation in forests on the tri-junction of Bijapur-Sukma-Dantewada districts, a police official here said.
The operation was launched on Tuesday based on inputs about the presence of naxalites belonging to its Darbha and west Bastar divisions and military company no. 2, said the police official. The joint team comprised personnel belonging to the STF District Reserve Guard - both units of state police, Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and its elite unit CoBRA, reported PTI.
Bharat Sahu, resident of Raipur and Satyer Singh Kange from Narayanpur district, both STF personnel were killed in the blast triggered by Naxalites while four other personnel sustained injuries. he said.
Reinforcement was pressed to the area following the incident and the wounded personnel were evacuated for treatment, he said, as per the PTI report.
Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai expressed anguish over the incident and said that the sacrifice of the jawans will not go in vain. He vowed that fight against Naxalism will continue till the menace is eradicated.
"Received the sad news about the martyrdom of 2 STF jawans and injury to 4 jawans in an IED blast carried out by Maoists in Tarrem area of Bijapur. I pray to God for the departed souls to rest in peace and for the speedy recovery of the injured jawans," said the Chief Minister in a post on X.
"Naxalites have become frustrated by the operations being carried out by the state government to eliminate the menace and are resorting to cowardly acts. The martyrdom of the jawans will not go in vain. Our fight will continue till the end of Maoism," he said.