Three killed in landmine blast triggered by naxals

Raipur: Two women and a minor girl were killed while four others injured when a pressure landmine, suspected to have been laid by Naxals, went off in a dense forest pocket of Chhattisgarh's insurgency-hit Narayanpur district, police said today.

"The incident took place last evening in the forests of Narayanpur police station limits," Inspector General of Police (Bastar Range) SRP Kalluri told PTI.

As per preliminary information, the residents of Tumnaar village including some women and their children, were passing through the area where road construction work was underway between Sonpur and Kurushnar villages, he said.

They inadvertently stepped over the pressure IED (improvised explosive device) connection near Godagaon village forest, triggering the blast, killing two women and the 15-year-old girl, the IG said.

Three more women and a two-year-old baby also sustained injuries in the blast, he added.

The incident came to light late last night when the villagers brought the victims to Narayanpur hospital following which security forces were rushed to the place, he said.

The body of deceased has been sent for the postmortem while the injured were being treated at Narayanpur hospital, he added.

The Maoists have planted the IEDs to target security forces deployed to facilitate ongoing road construction on that axis. They mostly plant landmines close to trees and culverts. Several times in the past security forces as well as villagers have become victims of such Maoist blasts in Bastar region," the IG said.

Further details are awaited, he added.