Forces recover IED from Kolhan forest division

Jamshedpur, March 10: Security forces averted a major ambush by recovering a powerful IED from the Kolhan forest division of West Singhbhum. The explosive device weighing 3.5 kg was planted in a forest path in the Tumbahaka jungle under the Tonto police station area of the district.

According to a press release issued by the West Singhbhum district police, the IED was defused on the spot by a bomb disposal squad belonging to the CRPF.

Unlike IEDs recovered earlier from the Kolhan forest division in the recent past, the one detected on Thursday was more powerful and could have caused a major blast.

Earlier, the IEDs either exploded or detected in the forest were of low intensity, but the rebels are suspected to have planted the powerful device recently.

Several top Naxal leaders, including Misir Besra, are hiding in the dense jungle in the Kolhan and Porahat forest divisions and have planted IEDs extensively there since January this year. The police and paramilitary forces have launched anti-insurgency operations since January 11 to flush them out.

Till now, three villagers were killed and 15 paramilitary jawans have sustained injuries in over a dozen IED blasts.

Sources informed the police and paramilitary forces that are engaged in the anti-insurgency operation in Porahat division, which is a hot bed of naxal activities after Saranda intensified the drive. The area has been sealed and a combing operation has been launched to flush out the Maoist guerrillas from the area.

Remarkably, the West Singhbhum administration revised its security measures after the district vigilance department reported possible intruding of the rebels into the district. 

 In the last few days anti insurgency operation in the West Singhbhum has been intensified following intelligence reports that suggest rebels are camping in the pockets. The administration has increased police patrolling on the bordering areas connecting to West Bengal and has also deployed an adequate number of paramilitary personnel on areas potential to rebels attack.

 Meanwhile intelligence sources  maintained that the naxals have once again started influencing the local residents to come to the fold of naxalism,” said a senior intelligence officer.  He said the rebels are targeting areas in Sonua, Goelkera and Porahat region of West Singhbhum.  The intelligence sources also maintain that most of the Maoists who were in Saranda forest have shifted to the adjoining Sundergarh district in Odisha and several others hid themselves at the villages in Saranda in the guise of cultivators.