A day after 26 security personnel were killed in a Maoist ambush,eight personnel of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) were injured in a pressure bomb blast while they were trying to defuse a landmine near Cherpal on Gangaloor road in Naxalite affected Bijapur district of Chhattisgarh. CRPF team had spotted a landmine during a routine search operation and its experts were trying to defuse the mine. The security personnel present there accidently stepped on a pressure bomb leading to a blast,a police spokesman said in the state capital. Maoists use normal injection syringes which is fitted with the explosive and buried on the road and forest pathways. When anyone steps on it,one end of the syringe gets pressed and the circuit is completed leading to explosion. All the injured CRPF personnel are being shifted to the district hospital at Bijapur from where they would be airlifted to Maharani Hospital at Jagdalpur,divisional headquarters of Bastar. CRPF personnel belonging to the 39th battalion had suffered a major blow yesterday when the para-military force lost 24 of its personnel in a Maoist ambush in neighbouring Narayanpur district. Personnel of the district force and a special police officer were also killed in the attack. Maoists have given a call for a 48 hour bandh in five states,including in Chhattisgarh. Security arrangements have been beefed up in entire Bastar region as well as in other Naxalite affected districts where day patrolling has been intensified.
