Two jawans of the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) were killed in a bomb blast carried out by the Naxals in Chhattisgarh's Narayanpur on Saturday, officials said.
The Naxals carried out an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) blast on the team returning from an anti-Naxal search operation in Abujhmad.
The two jawans have been identified as 36-year-old Amar Panwar, who hailed from Maharashtra's Satara, and K Rajesh from Andhra Pradesh's Kadappa, who was also 36-year-old. Both the jawans were from the 53rd Battalion of the ITBP, Narayanpur SP Prabhat Kumar confirmed.
According to officials, a joint party of the ITBP, the Border Security Force (BSF) and the District Reserve Guard (DRG) from Orchha, Mohndi and Irkbhatti of Narayanpur district had left for Dhurbeda for the operation.
On Saturday, while returning from the operation, around 11:30 am to 12:00 noon, the two jawans were killed in a blast in a forest near Kodlier village, while two jawans of the Narayanpur District Police were injured, whose condition is stable, officials added.
In July, two jawans were killed and four were injured in an IED blast by Naxals in Bijapur district. This occurred when security forces were returning from an anti-Naxal operation and the pipe bomb exploded.
Two Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel were killed in June in a similar attack. They were on a routine patrol as part of a Road Opening Party on a truck and bikes when the truck was blown up by the IED blast.
Meanwhile, the state also recorded the highest number of killings of Naxalites. In the first half of 2024 alone, over 140 Naxals were gunned down by security forces in Chhattisgarh.
