Latehar (Jharkhand), May 28 (IANS) Security forces have recovered a large cache of arms and explosives, including eight improvised explosive devices (IEDs), during an intensive anti-Maoist operation in the forested region of Netarhat in Jharkhand’s Latehar district, officials said on Wednesday.

According to police officials, Maoist cadres had planted the IEDs underground in the Tutapani forest and surrounding hilly terrain under Netarhat police station limits to target security personnel patrolling the area.

Each IED weighed around 0.5 kg. These were safely neutralised on-site by the bomb disposal squad, police said.

The discovery came amid an ongoing operation launched after an encounter on May 26 in which Maoist commander Manish Yadav, carrying a reward of Rs 5 lakh, was killed.

During the same operation, zonal commander Kundan Kherwar, with a bounty of Rs 10 lakh on his head, was apprehended.

Following the encounter, Latehar SP Kumar Gaurav ordered a massive cordon-and-search operation in the region.

Acting on intelligence inputs, joint teams from Manika and Garu police stations, along with personnel from the Indian Reserve Battalion (IRB) B Set-147, combed the area intensively.

Latehar police stated that the recoveries during the search operation included a 7.62 mm rifle, a 9 mm carbine, forty live cartridges of 7.62 mm and 5.56 mm, seventy-nine live cartridges of 9 mm, four SLR rifle magazines, four magazines of 9 mm carbine, a magazine cover for a 9 mm firearm, military-grade pouches, rifle cleaning rods and oil, and a Motorola wireless communication set.

The recovered items suggest the kind of preparations the Maoist squad operating in the region had made.

On May 26-27, security forces in the Hussainabad subdivision of neighbouring Palamu district gunned down another top Maoist leader, Tulsi Bhuiyan. An SLR rifle and other arms were seized from the site of that operation as well.

Police have said that search and combing operations will continue in both districts to root out any remaining presence of Maoists and dismantle their logistical networks.

–IANS

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