Over 85 per cent CRPF personnel died in ambushes, IED blasts

Over 85 per cent of the CRPF personnel have lost their lives not in encounters but in ambushes and IED blasts.

Over 85 per cent of the CRPF personnel have lost their lives not in encounters but in ambushes and IED blasts.

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The highest casualty suffered by the para-military force, mandated with maintaining internal security, last year was in Chhattisgarh with the state accounting for 42 deaths, most of them in ambushes and IED blasts.

The force in its internal report has identified lack of intelligence, poor observation and non-implementation of full
Standard Operating Procedures besides lack of rehearsals or practises of required drills as some of the main reasons for
this.

"Most of the personnel died a sudden death. They did not even get the time to know what hit them," an official who did
not wish to be identified said.

While 10 CRPF personnel were killed in encounters during 2009, 20 were killed in ambushes, 30 in IED blasts and 10 in firing in the same period.

The force is now stressing on intelligence-based operations and a greater interaction with local people so as to win their trust and confidence.