‘Can’t detect landmine hidden under concrete’

Anup Beshia,C T Omkarchand,Rakesh Sharma are among the 12 BSF jawans who are being treated at Apollo Hospital after suffering injuries in the Naxal attack at Latehar. A landmine triggered by the CPI(Maoist) cadres at Ladup in Latehar district under Chatra Lok Sabha constituency on Thursday killed six BSF jawans.

The BSF men were asked to walk and never take the same route to return to their camp. On Thursday morning,these men were assigned two duties: escorting polling staff to a nearby booth,and man another booth near their camp. “Faced with shortage of time,we boarded the bus,” said Rakesh Sharma.

IG S N Pradhan,who is the state police spokesperson,said had these jawans walked back to their camp instead of boarding the bus,they would have escaped the attack. However,Sharma said,“We had crossed the same road several times and not once did our anti-mine equipment detect the mine,as the IED was hidden under concrete material.”

The state’s Special Branch and Crime Investigation Department are supposed to gather inputs about the movement of the Naxalites,identify hidden sites of landmines,and get them diffused.