Chhattisgarh Armed Force personnel killed in IED blast

Raipur: A Chhattisgarh Armed Force (CAF) personnel was on Thursday killed in an IED blast triggered by Naxals in Chhattisgarh’s Bijapur district, police said. The incident occurred near Phulgatta village forest when a team of security personnel was patrolling the region, a senior police official said. While the security men were cordoning-off a forest patch near Phulgatta, assistant platoon commander Panchram Bhagat inadvertently stepped over a landmine, triggering the explosion in which he was critically injured, he said.The injured personnel was immediately rushed to a local hospital where he succumbed to his wounds, he said. Bhagat, an assistant sub-inspector rank official, belonged to CAF’s 10th battalion. Meanwhile, combing operation has been launched in the region to trace the assailants, the police official added.