CRPF commando killed, 9 injured in IED blast in Chhattisgarh’s Sukma

Security forces combing an area for Naxals. (file photo)

A member of the CRPF’s elite CoBRA unit died and nine other personnel were injured in an IED blast triggered by Naxals in Chhattisgarh’s Sukma district, security officials said on Sunday.

According to Sukma district police officials, a joint party of security forces from the Burkapal camp in Sukma district were sent on a search operation last night. The IED went off at around 09.00 pm near Tadmetla, 6km from the camp, injuring the personnel, officials said.

Assistant Commandant Nitin Bhalerao, 33, succumbed to his injuries in the early hours of Sunday.

“Some of the men were trapped in a spike hole around vulnerable IEDs,” a senior officer said.

Bhalerao, a resident of Nashik in Maharashtra, was a decorated commando and had been adjudged the best in various combat competitions, a senior officer of the force said.

He joined the CRPF in 2010 and had come to CoBRA in 2019. The CoBRA was raised by the CRPF in 2009 as a special guerrilla combat wing for undertaking anti-Naxal operations as well as combating insurgents in the northeast

Nine commandos, including the team leader second-in-command rank officer Dinesh Kumar Singh, were injured in the incident. Seven commandos are being treated at a hospital in Raipur, while two are being given medical care at a unit hospital at Chintalnar, located in the south Bastar area of the state.

The injured troops belong to the 206th battalion of the Commando Battalion for Resolute Action (CoBRA)..

with PTI inputs

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