Woman Naxalite injured in blast while planting IED in Chhattisgarh’s Bijapur

A woman Naxalite was injured after an improvised explosive device (IED) she was trying to plant with the help of other ultras went off in Chhattisgarh's Bijapur district on Saturday, police said.

Locals found Gujja Sodhi in an injured condition in the forest of Bandepara within the jurisdiction of the Madded police station in the morning, a police official here said.

As per preliminary information, Sodhi and her colleagues were planting an IED to target security personnel. However, it exploded, leaving her wounded. Sodhi's colleagues took her weapon, a 12-bore gun, and fled the scene, he said.

On being alerted by villagers, a police team reached the site and provided first aid to Sodhi before rushing her to the district hospital, the official said.

Sodhi had been an active member in the Madded area committee of the banned Maoist organisation for the past six to seven years, working alongside a local commander, identified as Kanna Bucchna, he said.

While Maoists have been killing their own comrades for deserting the outlawed outfit, they also neglect their injured or sick cadres, leaving them to die in agony in the jungle, the official said. "There is no humanity or empathy within the organisation," he said.

An investigation into the incident is underway, he added. Meanwhile, security forces have stepped up anti-Naxalite operations in the state, gunning down over 450 Naxalites in a string of encounters, mostly centred in the Bastar region, since January last year.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)