Bhopal, March 24 (IANS): In a close call, three police personnel, including a driver, sustained minor injuries from an improvised explosive device (IED) explosion in Chhattisgarh’s Bijapur district on Sunday, police officials said. The incident occurred in the Gorla Nala area when Maoists targeted a pickup truck carrying Special Task Force (STF) jawans. The vehicle narrowly avoided a direct hit from the blast. The explosion, which took place around 6 p.m., injured two jawans with shrapnel and left the driver, identified as Ritesh Bhaskar (23), with minor wounds. Despite the force of the blast — strong enough to create an eight-foot-wide and deep crater — all three injured personnel are reported to be out of danger. The incident falls under the jurisdiction of the Madded police station. The STF team had been returning to Bijapur from Bhopalpatnam after conducting an anti-Maoist operation. As the pickup truck travelled along the national highway between Dampaya and Gorla Nala, Maoists detonated the IED from the forest’s edge. The shockwaves from the blast caused the injuries, but the vehicle itself escaped major damage. The injured were initially treated at the Madded Health Centre before being transferred to Bijapur District Hospital for further treatment. Police sources confirmed that the STF jawans had been on a search operation when the attack occurred, with the Maoists having planted the IED on the road in advance. This incident echoes previous Maoist attacks in the region. In 2023, an IED blast in Dantewada’s Aranpur claimed the lives of 10 District Reserve Guard (DRG) soldiers and their driver. More recently, on January 6, 2025, another attack in Bijapur killed eight soldiers and a driver during their return from an anti-Maoist mission. Earlier on March 20, a team of security forces had a narrow escape when Maoists detonated an IED in Chhattisgarh’s Narayanpur district, police said. No serious harm to security personnel was reported in the blast, but two policemen, including an officer, were evacuated from the area for treatment after their eyes got affected by the dust and soil due to the impact of the explosion, they said.