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New Indian Express
14-06-2025
- Politics
- New Indian Express
IED blast kills CRPF ASI in Odisha forest weeks after Maoists looted explosives
ROURKELA: An Assistant Sub-Inspector (ASI) of the Jharkhand-based 134 CRPF battalion was martyred in an IED blast on Saturday early morning along the Odisha-Jharkhand border during a joint combing operation against Maoist operatives. The explosion occurred in the Banko forest under K Balang police station limits of Rourkela Police District (RPD), about 95 km from Rourkela, in Sundargarh district of Odisha. The martyred ASI, Satwan Singh (34), belonged to the 134 CRPF battalion stationed in West Singhbhum district of neighbouring Jharkhand. The blast site has remained tense, especially as it comes in the wake of the banned CPI (Maoist) operatives hijacking a truck and looting industrial explosives from the same Banko forest on May 27. After several years of relative calm, Naxal-related violence has resurfaced on the Odisha side of the border. Sources said that following the blast, the critically injured CRPF personnel was rushed to Apollo Hospital in Rourkela around 9:30 am, where he succumbed to his injuries around 11 am. DIG of Police (Western Range), Brijesh Kumar Rai, said, 'During the joint combing operation, an IED blast occurred around 5:45 am in the connecting Banko forest with the Saranda forest along the Odisha-Jharkhand border, in which a CRPF jawan was injured and later succumbed.' He added that the Odisha-Jharkhand border has been put on high alert and security has been further beefed up. Both DIG Rai and Rourkela SP Nitesh Wadhwani visited the hospital. SP Wadhwani said the anti-Maoist operation would continue with necessary safeguards. Following the explosive truck loot on the morning of May 27, security forces from Odisha, including SOG and DVF personnel, along with their counterparts from Jharkhand—CRPF, CoBRA and Jharkhand Jaguar—have been conducting intensified search and anti-Naxal operations in the Maoist stronghold of the dense Saranda forest in West Singhbhum district of Jharkhand. The hijacked truck was believed to be carrying nearly five tonnes of industrial explosives. During the ongoing operations, around 3.8 tonnes of the explosives have been recovered from different parts of the Saranda forest.
New Indian Express
31-05-2025
- New Indian Express
Security forces recover part of looted explosives in Odisha
ROURKELA: Security forces recovered huge quantities of the looted explosives following an exchange of fire with the Maoists inside Saranda forest near Tirilposh in West Singhbhum district of Jharkhand, around 20 km from Sundargarh border, on Friday. The recovery came three days after armed Maoists hijacked an explosives-laden truck from the forested Banko area under K Balang police limits in Sundargarh on Tuesday morning. The rebels drove the vehicle about one km inside the forest and decamped with the blasting gelatin sticks weighing nearly four tonne. Sources said the site of the loot is hardly two km from Saranda forest in Jharkhand and the Friday's encounter spot is nearly 20 km from Sundargarh border. It seems due to initiation of combing operation on both sides of the border immediately after the loot, the Maoists did not have time to shift the explosive packets elsewhere. It is likely that the explosive packets may have been kept hidden in the forest. Requesting anonymity, a senior police officer said the exchange of fire started early on Tuesday afternoon and was still going on intermittently. A major portion of the looted explosives was found lying near the spot of encounter. DIG (Western Range) Brijesh Kumar Rai confirmed that huge quantities of the looted explosives and Maoist materials have been recovered. Three joint teams of security forces of Odisha and Jharkhand participated in the intense search operations along the border at different places. One team was involved in the gun battle after being challenged by the Maoists. The exchange of fire and search operation is still underway and details would be shared accordingly.
