Three Special Task Force (STF) personnel were today injured, one of them seriously, when naxals triggered a pipe bomb blast in Chhattisgarh's insurgency-hit Sukma district, police said.
The incident took place at around 3 pm in the forests under Fulbagdi police station limits when a joint team of security forces was returning after an anti-Maoist operation, a senior police official told PTI.
Separate teams of security forces, comprising CRPF, Special Task Force (STF), DRG (District Reserve Guard) and district force, had launched the operation since yesterday in the interior forests of Sukma, around 400 kms from here, the official said.
The operation was undertaken in view of the Independence Day today during which maoists try to create disturbances, he said.
On way back, when one of the patrolling teams reached near Pariya village, naxals triggered the blast from inside the forest that left three injured, he said.
The injured belong to the state's counter insurgency force STF.
"A constable identified as Kattam Rama was seriously injured in the explosion, while two others sustained minor injuries," the official said.
Soon after getting information of the incident, reinforcements were rushed to the spot and theinjuredwere shifted from the forests and admitted to a local hospital, he said.
Of them, Rama was airlifted to Raipur for further treatment, he added.
Meanwhile, a search operation was underway in the region to nab the ultras who fled from the spot after executing the incident, he added.
Earlier, in the day security personnel had a narrow escape when the maoists triggered an IED blast in Rajnandgaon district while the police team was returning from an Independence Day function.
No casualty was reported in the blast which took place at around 11 am near Jamdi village, a senior police official said.
A joint team of Indo Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) and District Force had organised a flag hoisting programme at Koracha village, located around 4 km deep in the forest under Kohka police station area (which is around 200km away from the state capital), to celebrate Independence Day with the villagers, Rajnandgaon's Superintendent of Police Prashant Agrawal told PTI.
On way back from the programme, the team was passing through Jamdi village when the rebels detonated the Improvised Explosive Device (IED) near a field, he said.
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