Bijapur (PTI): A 20-year-old man was killed after a pressure Improvised Explosive Device (IED) planted by Naxalites went off in Chhattisgarh's Bijapur district, police said on Monday.

The incident occurred on Sunday when the victim, Aayta Kuhrami, a resident of Kasturipad village under Usoor police station area, had gone to a nearby forest, a police official said. 

He inadvertently came in contact with the pressure IED, which exploded, causing injuries to his legs. The man succumbed to his injuries while being shifted to the hospital, the official said. 

Security personnel have launched a search in the area to check if more IEDs were planted there, he said.

The official appealed to villagers to exercise extreme caution while going into forests and remote areas and asked them to immediately report any suspicious objects, activities, or materials to the nearest police station or security camp. 

Maoists often plant IEDs on dirt tracks to target security personnel who use such routes during anti-Naxal operations inside forests. Civilians have also fallen prey to such traps laid by ultras in the Bastar region comprising seven districts, including Bijapur, police said.

On January 5, a 15-year-old boy was injured when a pressure IED planted by Naxalites went off in the district. 

As many as 46 persons lost their lives in Maoist violence, including pressure IED blasts, in the Bastar region last year.

Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.



Budapest/Washington: US Vice President J D Vance has said that Lebanon was never included in the ceasefire understanding with Iran, describing the confusion as a “legitimate misunderstanding”.

Speaking to reporters before departing from Hungary, Vance said, “I think the Iranians thought that the ceasefire included Lebanon and it just didn’t. We never made that promise.”

He stressed that the United States had not included Lebanon in the scope of the ceasefire at any stage.

His remarks come amid continued Israeli strikes in Lebanon, where more than 200 people were reported killed, even as ceasefire talks between Iran and the US move forward.

Vance said Israel had “offered … to check themselves a little bit in Lebanon because they want to make sure that our negotiation is successful”.

He warned that if Iran allows the situation in Lebanon to affect the negotiations, it could derail the talks.

“If Iran wants to let this negotiation fall apart in a conflict where they were getting hammered over Lebanon, which has nothing to do with them and which the United States never once said was part of the ceasefire, that’s ultimately their choice,” he said.