An autopsy performed on the body of a Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) jawan, recovered from the site of Monday's fierce gunfight with Maoists at Jharkhand, detected the presence of an explosive device inside.
On Thursday, doctors at Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences in Ranchi were conducting a post-mortem on the dead soldiers when they found a bomb weighing half a kilogram inside the abdomen. The shocking discovery was immediately followed by an alert to the Bomb Disposal Squad and the device was safely removed, reported NDTV.
The CRPF were engaged in a deadly encounter with the Naxals in Latehar district, a new hotbed for the communist party.. Of the 12 soldiers killed, five bodies were missing and were eventually found during a search operation. A blast occurred on Wednesday when villagers helping the security force were trying to recover the bodies. Three people were killed and sixteen policemen were admitted to Apollo hospital for their injuries. The death toll of the Latehar incident stands at 14, said NDTV.
A senior CRPF official told PTI that the device was a "pressure bomb prototype which explodes on being disturbed." This particular technique, whereby explosives are inserted or strapped onto bodies, was reportedly used by the Maoists in their torture killings in the past.
The past year reported fewer attacks and killings of security personnel by Maoists. After being driven away in the "fight-to-finish" war by the government, the outfit is seemingly trying to reclaim their territories. Hundreds of the outfit members are believed to be moving around the states of Bihar and Jharkhand, reported The Times of India.
"Maoists have been considerably weakened as is evident from constantly decreasing incidents of Naxal violence (from 2,258 in 2009 to 1,412 in 2012). This is the season (before the onset of monsoons) to strike and we want to considerably weaken them through continuous offensive," a home ministry official told TOI.
