Rebels engineered a powerful blast to ambush paramilitary forces atop a hill in Kuchai jungles of Seraikela-Kharsawan, about 45km away from here, injuring 26 security personnel combing the area, 11 of them seriously, early on Tuesday.

The ambush comes eight days after serial IED blasts aimed at security forces in Kharsawan on May 20, at a point 6km away from Tuesday’s blast. Asked why the attack, Seraikela-Kharsawan SP Chandan Sinha said it could be a revengeful show of strength for rebels who could not disrupt the just-concluded Lok Sabha elections in what had been their stronghold.

Around 4.45am, rebels triggered a single, medium-intensity IED blast on a kutcha or non-metalled road in hilly forested Kuchai where a joint team of around 2,000 personnel comprising CoBRA, Jharkhand Jaguar and district police had been deployed on an anti-insurgency operation. As the injured men collapsed, other members of the team retaliated with heavy firing, which lasted for 20 minutes.

Almost simultaneously, the CRPF arranged 26 injured to be flown to Ranchi by chopper for treatment at Bhagwan Mahavir Medica Superspecialty Hospital. Of the 11 personnel seriously injured, eight belonged to 209 CoBRA battalion, two to Jharkhand Jaguar and one to the district police.

Three of the injured were critical when they reached the Ranchi hospital but at the time of filing this report at 6pm, all were learnt to be stable.

Seraikela-Kharsawan SP Chandan Sinha said the blast was the handiwork of the CPI-Maoist squad of Maharaj Pramanik, which had triggered the May 20 serial blast injuring three jawans.

The SP pointed out that a day after the May 20 serial blasts at Kharsawan, they had started an extensive operation against rebels at Kharsawan and Kuchai areas.

“Our troops were searching spots in the forested hills that had the possibility of housing rebel camps when the blast was triggered. In the encounter that followed the blast, we expect Maoist casualties, but the number and extent of that will be known once the area is properly combed,” he said.

Asked if Tuesday’s and May 20’s blasts were a setback, SP Sinha said, “Not at all. The anti-insurgency operation in Seraikela-Kharsawan would continue till rebels are wiped out from the district.”

Seraikela subdivisional police officer Avinash Kumar, who was leading a combing operation at Kuchai jungles, said they were estimating that at least seven rebels had been killed in the encounter after the blast.

“We fired over 200 shots. From the trail of blood in the jungle, we guess as many as seven rebels have either been killed in the encounter or were seriously injured. Their companions may have dragged the bodies taking advantage of the hilly slants,” said the SDPO.