Twin blasts near CRPF camp site in Odisha

Two back-to-back explosions were triggered allegedly by the Maoists near a proposed camp site of the CRPF in Odisha's Kalahandi district, a senior police officer said. No one was injured and no property damaged in the twin blasts, Kalahandi Superintendent of Police B Gangadhar said.

According to the SP, the first explosion was reported from an isolated place, around 200m from the CRPF's proposed camp site at Trilochanpur, while the second occurred near

Ambaguda Chowk, a few metres away, when the Jawans were escorting a bomb squad to the first site.

The police, along with the CRPF jawans, have launched an intensive combing operation and patrolling in the area following the blasts, he said.

Trilochanpur in Kalahandi is a part of the state's Maoist corridor.

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Exactly a year after India’s security forces gunned down 40 Naxalites in Maharashtra’s Gadchiroli area, the insurgents struck back on May 1 killing 15 soldiers and a driver in an improvised explosive device (IED) blast. The Naxalites also torched 27 machines and vehicles.

The attack, which comes close on the heels of the assassination of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) legislator Bhima Mandavi in Chhattisgarh’s Dantewada, serves as yet another stark warning of the group’s growing stronghold outside its traditional regions in Chhattisgarh’s south Bastar.

The Naxals were observing a week-long protest to mark the death anniversary of 40 cadres, who were gunned down by the state police.

The Naxals torched vehicles belonged to private contractors at a road construction site in Kurkheda in Gadchiroli and targeted the local C-60 commandos in the IED blast.

Intelligence units had warned of heightened activity among the Naxals under the new commander, Basavaraj, who is trained in armed warfare and the use of explosives. The cadres, who had been pushed back by the security forces across Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Odisha and Andhra Pradesh, were asked to regroup and undergo training in setting up IEDs and covert operations in the run-up to the general elections, an intelligence officer had said just before the Lok Sabha elections.

WATCH: "They Got Scared Of Increased Polling In Area And Attacked The Police In Desperation," Says Gadchiroli IG Sharad Shelar Briefing On The Maoist Terror Attack