Ranchi/Daltonganj: Six jawans were killed and four others injured in Maoist blasts at Burha Pahar area of Garhwa district bordering Latehar on Tuesday night in one of the worst setbacks to anti-Naxal operations in recent times.
The bodies were flown to Ranchi on Wednesday.
Those killed were Kundan Kumar Singh (JAP), Parmanand Chaudhary (JAP), Ajay Kujur (IRB), Dev Kumar (IRB), Ajit Odeya (Latehar district police) and Krishna Prasad Niyopane (JAP). Their injured colleagues - Arvind Oraon, Subhash Chandra, Ali Asraf Khan and Johnny Toppo - were also flown in and were admitted to Bhagwan Mahavir Medica Superspecialty Hospital in Ranchi.
Jharkhand chief minister Raghubar Das paid tributes to the six martyrs at Special Task Force headquarters in Tendergram on Wednesday.
Calling Maoist blasts an act of "frustration and cowardice", the chief minister said: "We will uproot Naxalism completely from Jharkhand. That will be our real tribute to martyrs."
Evacuation of the martyrs' bodies and their injured colleagues from Burha Pahar had been a risky venture Bad weather comprising rain, gusty winds and lightning had made evacuation of the slain and the injured a risky venture. Police top brass had readied both routes - by chopper and on road - depending on prevailing weather.
Maoist turf Burha Pahar comprises Latehar and Garhwa in Jharkhand and two more districts in Chhattisgarh. A police source said Sanya, Chemo, Khajri Mahna, Turi, Tumer, Turer, Khura, Chapiya are the most trodden Maoist territories.
"Maoists stay here like free birds, the survival of others here depends completely on their whims," said an employee at Palamau Tiger Reserve, Kutku range, who refused to come on quote.
Among the six martyrs, Kundan, who hailed from village Gamhar Bigha under Hussainabad thana of Palamau, was to get married soon, DSP Hussainabad Manoj K. Mahto told this paper. "His martyrdom came before his marriage," the senior policeman said, adding the deceased's father Suresh Singh was an old marginal farmer. "The parents are too shocked to go to Ranchi for the state honour. Kundan's other relatives have gone."
