Indian police patrolling Naxal-hit areas. (Sattish Bate/Hindustan Times via Getty Images)According to police reports, security personnel have recovered an IED (Improvised Explosive Device) from Thalkobad on the Thalkobad-Baliba road in the West Singhbhum district (Jharkhand), as reported by the Press Trust of India (PTI). The bomb that weighed around 20 kilograms was discovered in the early hours of Monday (5 November).
According to the Superintendent of Police (SP) G Kranthi Kumar, the recovery was made by serving personnel of the 197 Battalion of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and the District Armed Police. These two units have long been patrolling the Naxal-hit districts of Jharkhand.
He added that the IED was planted underneath a "kutcha" road and was specifically used to injure the jawans. However, one of them located a wire on the road before the bomb went off and a massive search operation was carried in the area.
The Naxal movement, which has its origins in the peasant movement of the 1960s in Bengal, has claimed around 12,000 lives in the past 20 years, as per Home Ministry data. The movement, which ultimately aims at overthrowing democracy in India, uses violent methods to achieve its objectives. Approximate 58 districts in nine Indian states are affected by Naxal violence.
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