C'garh: CRPF jawan injured in pipe bomb blast in Sukma

 A jawan from the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) was injured when a pipe bomb planted by Naxals exploded in Chhattisgarh's insurgency-hit Sukma district on Wednesday, a senior police official said.

The blast took place near a police camp, which is being set up in Kamarguda village under Jagargunda police station area, where security personnel were removing the pipe bomb planted on a dirt track, the official said.

As part of their efforts to open access to Aranpur (Dantewada district)-Jagargunda (Sukma) route, considered a Maoist stronghold, the police have been setting up camps and facilitating road construction, The Dantewada police is setting up a permanent camp at Kamarguda to complete the construction of a road between Aranpur and Jagargunda, he added. 

The security forces were patrolling to sanitise the route and areas close to Kamarguda on Wednesday morning, when they recovered four IEDs, including two pipe bombs, each weighing around 5 kg.A jawan from the CRPF's 231st battalion was trying to remove one of the pipe bombs planted below the ground, when it exploded, he added. 

The jawan, who sustained splinter wounds to his legs, was immediately shifted to a local hospital, the official said.

The camp at Kamarguda will be strategically important, as it will act as a forward operating base to launch counter- insurgency operations in Jagargunda area on Dantewada-Sukma border, he said.

Apart from this, the camp will also restrict the movement of Maoists between south and west Bastar, he added.

(IMAGE CREDITS:PTI)