A group of 40 police personnel had a narrow escape after the Maoists triggered a landmine at Kaligonda forest area under Chintoor police station limits in East Godavari district on Sunday.The incident took place when the police party was returning after a two-day combing operation in the dense forest area bordering Telangana and Chhattisgarh.
Chintoor sub-inspector P Srinivasa Kumar, who headed the combing team, told TOI that they suspected the Sabari Dalam of Maoists behind the blast. “The blast took place a few metres away from the combing party . None of our team members was injured. The intensity of the landmine blast was low. But it could have killed some of the members.Thankfully , the team is safe.The Maoists have triggered the landmine seeing the police party approaching plain area from the forest,” said Srinivasa Kumar.
Kumar, who joined as a sub-inspector at Chintoor in September 2016, said the team took nearly four to five hours to reach to the plain area after the blast. The team conducted a thorough search of the area for more landmines. He said incidentally the team diffused two landmines on Saturday .
The Maoists cut down tre es at Pega and Edugurallapalli villages of Chintoor on Saturday before planting the landmines on Saturday . Each of these landmines has about 20 kg explosives.
The Sabari Dalam is active on the AP-Chhattisgarh border. Senior police officials however ruled out any link between the Sunday’s blast and the one in Koraput district of Odisha earlier this month.