10-year-old accidentally touches IED on forest trail in Sukma, suffers injuries to her face

Sunday’s incident took place around 7 am at Timapuram village, located 90 km from Sukma headquarters towards Bijapur.

“The girl was picking up dirt on an a forest trail to use for a bonfire when she touched an IED, triggering it. She suffered serious splinter injuries to her face and right hand,” a police officer said.

With no road that can bring an ambulance to her village, the girl’s parents took her on a tractor to Chintalnar, 10 km away, and then in an ambulance to Sukma district headquarters, 80 km away. After receiving treatment there, she was moved again to Jagdalpur, 100 km away, for further treatment at Dimrapal Medical College.

Doctors said she is out of danger.

Her village has a strong Maoist presence, police said, adding that one of her relatives was a Maoist commander who was among 13 arrested last month.

IEDs planted by Maoists have resulted in major casualties in Chhattisgarh, including in January this year.

On January 6, eight security personnel and their civilian driver were killed in an IED blast in Bijapur. Four days later, a local resident was killed and three people were injured in two separate IED blasts in the Orchha area of Narayanpur district. Three policemen have also suffered serious injuries in IED blasts this month while on anti-Maoist operations. Security forces have detected and defused nearly a dozen IEDs this year.

Maoist-related violence has also led to the deaths of at least four children last year. On January 1, 2024, a six-month-old girl was killed and her mother suffered a bullet injury after they got caught in crossfire between Maoists and security forces in the forests of Bijapur district.

On May 12, two boys aged 11 and 13 were killed in an IED blast in Bhairamgarh area of Bijapur district. On July 27, a 10-year-old boy, who had accompanied his mother to graze cattle in the forest of Pedia in Bijapur, was killed in an IED blast. In August, a 16-year-old boy was bashed to death by Maoists in Puarti village of Sukma district after they suspected him of being a police informer, police said.

Four children suffered injuries on December 12 during an encounter between security forces and Maoists in Narayanpur.