Gumla (Jharkhand): Security forces in Jharkhand have claimed to have averted a major tragedy by recovering as many as 35 IEDs (Improvised Explosive Devices) planted by the Naxalites beneath on a road in the remote Gumla Kurumgarh border area of Gumla district of Jharkhand. While five IEDs have been defused by the security forces, efforts to defuse the rest 30 are going on.
Sources said that the IEDs were planted by the Naxalites with the aim of targeting the police, but were defused without causing any harm to the security forces. They said that five IED bombs were recovered from the under construction Kutma-Bamda road in Naxal-affected Gumla district, which were later deactivated by the bomb disposal squad and Jaguar police team on Friday night. 30 IEDs have been recovered from Harinakhad area, which will be deactivated on Saturday, added the sources.
According to the police, the villagers spotted a wire coming out of the ground in the village and sensing trouble, they immediately informed the police about it. Following the distress call, a team of Gumla police rushed to the spot along with the bomb disposal squad from Ranchi. The team defused the five IEDs without any casualty.
SP Shambhu Kumar Singh confirmed the incident and said that a large number of explosives have been recovered and more recoveries are possible. The team returned from the forest area on Friday night due to security reasons and will visit the village on Saturday and conduct a search operation, he said.
The recovery of the IEDs in the area are alarming as the area has been considered Naxal-free for quite some time now following the killing of Naxalite sub-zonal commander Budheshwar in a Maoist-police encounter.
