Bijapur: Personnel of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) unearthed an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) barely 800 metres from their camp on the Mutvendi-Pidia Road in the Bijapur district of Chhattisgarh, on Monday. The IED weighed three kgs and could have caused severe of life, an official said.
“The IED was planted by Left Wing Extremists (LWEs). They were clearly targetting personnel of the security forces. A team from the 199 Bn CRPF, out on demining patrol, detected the IED and alerted appropriate agencies. The IED was detonated at the spot with necessary precautions,” the official said.
The IED had a pressure mechanism and could have gone off had someone stepped on it. Even innocent civilians could have lost their lives.
On January 6, 2025, eight security personnel and a civilian driver was killed after their vehicle ran over an IED in Bijapur. On January 22, security agencies recovered eight IEDs weighing 5 kgs each from the Mutvendi-Pidia Road that comes under the Gangalur police station.
This took place a few days after the bodies of 16 Naxalites were recovered from the dense forests of Gariaband in the state. The Centre has announced its plans to root out Naxalism from the country by the end of March 2026. Intelligence-based operations, with the help of advanced technology has started in Maoist strongholds such as Bastar and Bijapur.
In 2024, as many as 239 Maoist were killed in encounters with security forces in Chhattisgarh alone. On February 9, 2025, security forces killed 31 Naxals in Bijapur, taking the year’s toll for the state up to 84.
