4 BSF officers killed, 2 injured in IED blast in Odisha

From The Times Of India
PTI | Feb 10, 2012,
BHUBANESWAR: Four BSF officers, including a Commanding Officer, were killed while two others were injured in an IED blast by suspectedMaoists in Malkangiri district of Odisha. 

BSF director general U K Bansal has rushed to the spot, which is next to the Balimela reservoir, infamous for the deadly Naxal ambush in June 2008 when 38 Greyhound commandos of Andhra Pradesh police were killed when they were crossing the water body in a boat. 

The BSF squad travelling a jeep was targeted at Balimela culvert at around 1 PM in the Janbai area of the district, under Chitragonda police station, 465 km from here. 

The jungles here are a Naxal hotbed as it touches the borders of two other states - Andhra Pradesh and Chhattisgarh - making it a corridor for Maoists. 

According to initial reports, the officers were returning in the vehicle after attending a security meeting with the district administration for forthcoming Panchayat elections in the state. 

The victims have been identified as Commandant (107 battalion) J R Khaswan, his Second-in-Command Rajesh Sharan, inspector Ashok Yadav and assistant sub-inspector and radio operator of the squad Jitendra. 

The two other troopers who were injured have been identified as constables Bishnu Panigrahi and S K Kundu. 

Kundu was driving the ill-fated BSF vehicle. A BSF unit is located close to the area where the blast occurred and the team was approaching it. 

"A reinforcement contingent of joint security forces has been dispatched for search operations," a senior official said.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/4-BSF-officers-killed-2-injured-in-IED-blast-in-Odisha/articleshow/11837623.cms

HISTORY OF BSF

HISTORY OF BSF

      Though the idea of raising a ‘Force’ under a unified command kept simmering since Chinese aggression, but it could get conceptualised only after the Rann of Kutch invasion by Pak infiltrators which came as a prelude to 1965 Indo-Pak war.   After the 1965 Indo-Pak war concluded, a high level meeting was held between three stalwart of Indian policy making i.e. the then Home Secretary Sh L P Singh, Chief of Army staff Gen J N Chaudhuri and the then Defence Secretary.   The concept of the Border Security Force emerged through a noting initiated by Sh L P Singh to the Govt of India which ran as under :-

    • “I have had a discussion with the COAS and Defence Secretary, and I am putting down below the ideas that have emerged from the discussion :-

    • )All the police forces to be employed on border security duties should come under the control of the Ministry of Home Affairs.   They should be divided into three or four regional groups each under the command of an officer of the rank of Inspector General of   Police;

    • )There may be a small Central organisation with responsibility for supervision, coordination etc;

    • )The force should not have overaged men, and there should be careful screening of officers.   The officers taken from the police should be all volunteers, and the force should draw upon officers from the Armed Forces to the extent necessary;

    • )Each battalion should have the same strength – about 700 and should be armed and equipped on a standard scale;

    • )All the battalions should be given further training by training teams to be sent out from the Armed Forces;

    • )There should be coordination with Defence at the Central and appropriate lower levels; to facilitate this, there should be a senior military officer at the Defence HQrs for liasion with the head of the Border Security Force;

    • )The State administrations would have to be kept in the picture, and it would be necessary for the...


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