At least 12 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel were
killed in a landmine blast after being trapped by guerrillas in
Chaibasa district of Jharkhand, central-east India Thursday, police
said.
The blast took place at around 2 PM near Karmapada forest, 230
km from Ranchi, capital of Jharkhand, when the security personnel
were returning in a jeep to the district headquarters after
defusing bombs that were planted in a school, police said.
Guerrillas had trapped the CRPF personnel, as the victims were
new to Jharkhand and were unaware of the rebels trap tactics,
police said.
"The CRPF personnel had gone on a long range patrolling on
Wednesday. They went to the Thalkobad secondary school for night
stay and found landmines planted there," Indo-Asian News Service
quoted G.S Rath, additional director of general of police (special
branch) as saying.
They called in the bomb disposal squad. Eight bombs were defused
Wednesday and the rest were deactivated Thursday. They were
returning to the district headquarters after completing the job
when the blast triggered by the guerrillas took place, the official
said.
Three of the victims belonged to the bomb disposal squad.
The blast is seen as a move to revenge the arrest of two rebels
in Chatra district Wednesday.
Guerrillas are active in 16 of the 22 districts of the state.
Nearly 550 people including 230 Indian security personnel have been
killed in the last five years in rebel related violence in the
state.
(Xinhua News Agency June 2, 2006)
