A member of Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) dog squad was killed while its handler was injured on Tuesday in an IED blast during an anti-naxal operation in Maoist-infested forest area under Kurumgarh police station in Gumla district, police said.
The incident took place when a joint team of 203-Cobra Batallion of CRPF and the Jharkhand police was conducting an operation on the basis of specific information about movement of Maoists in the forested mountainous pocket, officials said.
Security forces had gunned down a suspected member of banned faction CPI (Maoists) in the same area on May 31 this year and recovered arms and literature, officials said.
“A specific operation was being conducted on Tuesday morning in the same area by joint forces along with the dog squad and bomb disposal and destruction squad (BDDS). During the operation, the team came under impact of an IED, in which swan Drona was killed, while its handler Vishwajit Kumbhkar got injured. The injured jawan was evacuated immediately and airlifted to Ranchi for medical aid. He is currently under treatment at a private hospital,” a statement from the Jharkhand police headquarters said.
Officials said the area, where the incident took place, is riddled with IEDs planted by CPI (Maoists). On several occasions in the past, innocent villagers as well as animals were killed or injured due to these planted bombs in the forest area, officials said.
