Ranchi, Aug 8: Two personnel of the CRPF’s elite CoBRA unit were critically injured in an improvised explosive device (IED) blast triggered by Maoists in the Digha area of Jharkhand's West Singhbhum district on Friday afternoon, officials said.

The explosion occurred during a routine search and combing operation in the dense forests of the region, which has long been considered a Maoist stronghold. The injured jawans were immediately evacuated from the site and airlifted to Ranchi for urgent medical treatment.

Chaibasa Superintendent of Police Rakesh Ranjan said that security forces have intensified operations in the region to flush out Maoist cadres who remain active in the remote, forested area of Saranda and Kolhan.

According to police, Maoist operatives frequently plant IEDs in forest pathways and under tracks to ambush patrolling security forces. These devices are often triggered by movement, causing fatal injuries.

Friday’s blast is the latest in a series of such attacks that underline the persistent threat of Maoist violence in Jharkhand.

Just two days earlier, an IED planted on the Karampada-Rengda railway track in the same district killed a railway trackman.

Earlier in June, CRPF jawan, Satyawan Kumar Singh, was martyred in a similar IED explosion in the Saranda forest area.

March was particularly deadly, with three separate IED blasts reported. A sub-inspector lost his life in one of the explosions, while five other jawans and officers sustained injuries in different incidents.

Security officials say that several top Maoist leaders -- including Misir Besra, Anmol, Mochu, Anal, Asim Mandal, Ajay Mahato, Sagen Angaria, and Ashwin -- are believed to be operating in the Saranda and Kolhan regions.

Over the past three months, more than a dozen Maoist arms and ammunition dumps have been discovered and destroyed in and around Chaibasa. These operations have led to the seizure of a large cache of weapons and explosives.

(IANS)

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