IED blast kills CRPF ASI in Odisha forest weeks after Maoists looted explosives
ROURKELA: An Assistant Sub-Inspector (ASI) of the Jharkhand-based 134 CRPF battalion was martyred in an IED blast on Saturday early morning along the Odisha-Jharkhand border during a joint combing operation against Maoist operatives.
The explosion occurred in the Banko forest under K Balang police station limits of Rourkela Police District (RPD), about 95 km from Rourkela, in Sundargarh district of Odisha. The martyred ASI, Satwan Singh (34), belonged to the 134 CRPF battalion stationed in West Singhbhum district of neighbouring Jharkhand.
The blast site has remained tense, especially as it comes in the wake of the banned CPI (Maoist) operatives hijacking a truck and looting industrial explosives from the same Banko forest on May 27.
After several years of relative calm, Naxal-related violence has resurfaced on the Odisha side of the border.
Sources said that following the blast, the critically injured CRPF personnel was rushed to Apollo Hospital in Rourkela around 9:30 am, where he succumbed to his injuries around 11 am.
DIG of Police (Western Range), Brijesh Kumar Rai, said, 'During the joint combing operation, an IED blast occurred around 5:45 am in the connecting Banko forest with the Saranda forest along the Odisha-Jharkhand border, in which a CRPF jawan was injured and later succumbed.'
He added that the Odisha-Jharkhand border has been put on high alert and security has been further beefed up.
Both DIG Rai and Rourkela SP Nitesh Wadhwani visited the hospital. SP Wadhwani said the anti-Maoist operation would continue with necessary safeguards.
Following the explosive truck loot on the morning of May 27, security forces from Odisha, including SOG and DVF personnel, along with their counterparts from Jharkhand—CRPF, CoBRA and Jharkhand Jaguar—have been conducting intensified search and anti-Naxal operations in the Maoist stronghold of the dense Saranda forest in West Singhbhum district of Jharkhand.
The hijacked truck was believed to be carrying nearly five tonnes of industrial explosives. During the ongoing operations, around 3.8 tonnes of the explosives have been recovered from different parts of the Saranda forest.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Hindustan Times
an hour ago
- Hindustan Times
Punjab influencer murder: Key accused fled to UAE hours after murder, says police
Chandigarh, Amritpal Singh Mehron, the alleged key accused in the murder case of Punjab-based social media influencer Kanchan Kumari alias 'Kamal Kaur Bhabhi', fled to the UAE hours after the incident, police said on Sunday. Bhatinda Senior Superintendent of Police Amneet Kondal said police had already issued a lookout circular against Mehron, a resident of Moga. Mehron is a self-styled Sikh radical leader. He is also accused of issuing threats to at least two other Punjab-based woman social media influencers. The police said they have also blocked some of his social media handles. "Different police teams were already looking for Amritpal by conducting raids. On Saturday, we issued a lookout circular. When we got his passport details and checked his travel records and found that he had fled to the UAE after taking a flight from Amritsar in the evening, just hours after the murder was committed in Bathinda," Kondal told reporters in Bathinda. "We will tie-up with other authorities/agencies and we will follow due procedure for his deportation. We have informed the authorities that Mehron is wanted in murder case," she said. On June 13, two accused Jaspreet Singh of Moga and Nimratjit Singh from Tarn Taran had been arrested in connection with the murder of Kanchan Kumari, who was found dead in an abandoned car in a parking lot in Bathinda. Kanchan Kumari was murdered on June 9. Further investigations and questioning of the two arrested accused has revealed that two more accused are involved in the murder conspiracy. SSP Kondal said these two are Mehron's associates and one of them has been identified as Ranjit Singh. Both have been nominated in the already registered FIR, she said, adding that efforts are on to nab them. The 30-year-old influencer, known on Instagram as 'Kamal Kaur Bhabhi' with 384,000 followers, also operated a YouTube channel called 'Funny Bhabhi TV', which had 2,36,000 subscribers. Kanchan, a resident of Lachman colony in Ludhiana, was strangled to death, the SSP said. Immediately after their arrest, the two arrested men had said they killed Kanchan for uploading "immoral and vulgar content that hurt the community's sentiments". After the alleged murder, a video had surfaced on the internet where Mehron claimed that Kanchan was killed due to her "immoral and vulgar content" on social media and two of his accomplices have been arrested in connection with the case. In his video, Mehron also warned other influencers creating "objectionable content" to refrain from such activities. Targeting another Punjab-based influencer, he said it is "not necessary that a body will be found every time", as he indirectly referred to Kanchan's body being left in her car. Highlighting that it was a premeditated crime, SSP Kondal said during investigations and questioning of the two arrested accused, it came to light that Mehron had planned the murder three months ago. Mehron along with Jaspreet and Nimratjit had even travelled to Ludhiana, staying in nearby hotels at times, and tracking the movements, lifestyle and car used by Kanchan. The SSP again detailed how Mehron had allegedly approached Kanchan the previous week on the pretext of a car promotion event in Bathinda. On June 9, she left Ludhiana house, informing her mother that she was going to a promotional event. However, her family lost contact with her afterwards. Mehron, Jaspreet and Nimratjit reached Ludhiana from Moga the same day and they contacted Kanchan and called her to a place in Ludhiana, the SSP said on Sunday. After she arrived at the location Mehron sat in her car's backseat, while the other two travelled in their car. They had promised Kanchan to repair her car in a garage in Bathinda. On reaching Bathinda, Mehron, in a pre-planned conspiracy, shifted to his SUV and Nimratjit along with Kanchan went to the garage, the officer said. Mehron parked his SUV near a petrol pump and later started driving Kanchan's vehicle and all of them sat inside. At one point, they snatched her two mobile phones and Nimratjit and Jaspreet, both sitting at back seats, strangulated her to death. Later, Mehron left in Ranjit's car with another unknown accused while Jaspreet and Nimratjit took Kanchan's car along with her body to Adesh university and abandoned it there, they said. When they realised that the piece of cloth used to strangulate Kanchan had been left behind, they went there again to recover it. Her body was discovered when locals informed the police about a foul smell emanating from a car in the parking area near Adesh University. The body was brought to the civil hospital mortuary and her mother confirmed the identity the next day. A murder case was registered following a complaint registered by her mother, Girja Devi, the SSP said.
Indian Express
an hour ago
- Indian Express
Tension erupts in Manipur after ‘dispute' over paddy field
Tension gripped the Pukhao Leitanpokpi area of Manipur's Imphal East district Sunday morning after a clash broke out between Meitei and Kuki-Zo communities in connection with an alleged dispute over a farm land. Manipur Police said that to thwart any unwanted incidents, additional security forces including state police, BSF and CRPF rushed to the spot, and are currently stationed in and around the area. The official account of Manipur Police on X said: 'Today in the morning about 10am a Meitei farmer from Leitanpokpi went to plough field, with a tractor, in Sadu Lampak village near a Kuki village. Some Kuki villagers nearby… objected saying the paddy field does not belong to him. Meanwhile some Meitei nearby also came to the site. Some videos are circulating showing Kukis coming down to stop Meitei farmers.' The post also said: 'Public are requested not to believe in rumours.' In one of the alleged videos that went viral, the two warring communities were seen using catapults and pelting stones at each other, as BSF personnel tried to control the situation, police said. While there are reports of some injuries during the confrontation, there is no official confirmation on the numbers of injured. Leitanpokpi, a predominantly Meitei district, lies at the extreme edge of Imphal East, bordering Saikul sub-division in Kangpokpi district — a Kuki-Zo dominated district. The area was one of the worst-affected districts during the ethnic conflict in the state that broke out on May 3, 2023.
NDTV
2 hours ago
- NDTV
Trump Administration Weighs Adding 36 Countries To Travel Ban, Memo Says
Washington: US President Donald Trump's administration is considering significantly expanding its travel ban by potentially banning citizens of 36 additional countries from entering the United States, according to an internal State Department cable seen by Reuters. Earlier this month, the Republican president signed a proclamation that banned the entry of citizens from 12 countries, saying the move was needed to protect the United States against "foreign terrorists" and other national security threats. The directive was part of an immigration crackdown Trump launched this year at the start of his second term, which has included the deportation to El Salvador of hundreds of Venezuelans suspected of being gang members, as well as efforts to deny enrollments of some foreign students from U.S. universities and deport others. In an internal diplomatic cable signed by U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, the State Department outlined a dozen concerns about the countries in question and sought corrective action. "The Department has identified 36 countries of concern that might be recommended for full or partial suspension of entry if they do not meet established benchmarks and requirements within 60 days," the cable sent out over the weekend said. The cable was first reported by the Washington Post. Among the concerns the State Department raised was the lack of a competent or cooperative government by some of the countries mentioned to produce reliable identity documents, the cable said. Another was "questionable security" of that country's passport. Some countries, the cable said, were not cooperative in facilitating the removal of its nationals from the United States who were ordered to be removed. Some countries were overstaying the U.S. visas their citizens were being granted. Other reasons for concern were the nationals of the country were involved in acts of terrorism in the United States, or antisemitic and anti-American activity. The cable noted that not all of these concerns pertained to every country listed. The countries that could face a full or a partial ban if they do not address these concerns within the next 60 days are: Angola, Antigua and Barbuda, Benin, Bhutan, Burkina Faso, Cabo Verde, Cambodia, Cameroon, Cote D'Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, Djibouti, Dominica, Ethiopia, Egypt, Gabon, The Gambia, Ghana, Kyrgyzstan, Liberia, Malawi, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, South Sudan, Syria, Tanzania, Tonga, Tuvalu, Uganda, Vanuatu, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. That would be a significant expansion of the ban that came into effect earlier this month. The countries affected were Afghanistan, Myanmar, Chad, Congo Republic, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen. The entry of people from seven other countries - Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan and Venezuela - has also been partially restricted. During his first in office, Trump announced a ban on travelers from seven Muslim-majority nations, a policy that went through several iterations before it was upheld by the Supreme Court in 2018.
