Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren on Thursday declared that the state police and the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) are in the concluding stages of eliminating Naxal menace in the state.

Soren's assertion came hours after a CRPF constable was injured after an improvised explosive device (IED) went off during an anti-Maoist operation in a forest of Jharkhand’s West Singhbhum district.

Asked about the IED blast, Soren told reporters in Nagpur, "Security forces have dismantled stronghold of Naxals. They are in the concluding stages of eradicating Naxalism." The Chief Minister was in the Maharashtra city to participate in a private event.

Soren's acknowledged the CRPF's stellar role in safeguarding the nation and paid tributes to its gallant personnel who have lost their lives in the line of duty.

Earlier in the day, the Jharkhand police, in a statement said, an IED, planted by banned CPI (Maoists), exploded in the forest near Hesabandh village in Muffasil when a team of security personnel from CRPF, its special operation unit Cobra, Jharkhand Jaguar and district armed police was carrying out the operation against the red rebels.

A CRPF constable (174 battalion), identified as Hafizur Rahman, suffered injuries in the blast and was airlifted to a hospital in state capital Ranchi for treatment, said the statement.

Earlier last week, a CRPF jawan was killed and two others were injured in an IED blast in a forest in the Goilkera area of West Singhbhum district.

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