Jawan killed as IED planted by Maoists goes off

RAIPUR: A jawan of the District Reserve Guard (DRG) was killed when a pressure bomb planted by Maoists went off in Chhattisgarh’s Bijapur district Sunday morning, police said.

The DRG team was out on an area domination operation in a forest near Tippapuram, about 500km from here, when the blast occurred, a senior police official told PTI. While cordoning off a nearby forest bordering Telangana, an assistant constable of the DRG inadvertently stepped on the pressure improvised explosive device (IED) connection following which it exploded, he said. The security personnel, identified as Sondhar Hemla, died on the spot, he said.

Efforts were on to retrieve the body from the forest, the official said, adding that a combing operation was underway in the region.