RANCHI, April 8: At least 26 policemen were killed on Wednesday night when landmines planted by suspected Maoists blew up four vehicles in their patrol in the eastern Indian state of Jharkhand.
The attack came less than 24 hours before a rally scheduled in the Jharkhand city of Hazaribagh by Deputy Prime Minister Lal Krishna Advani ahead of national elections.
The police were killed late Wednesday when their cars hit a "string of mines" as they passed near Chaibasa, in the Saranda forest, a popular tourist retreat 150kms south of the state capital Ranchi.
The 26 policemen killed were among a 150-member security patrol called to the area to probe reports that insurgents had raided a village, an official said. Chaibasa police chief Praveen Kumar, who was away from the site of the blasts, was found later with bullet wounds to his legs and was in critical condition.
Jharkhand police chief R.R. Prasad blamed the attack on the outlawed Maoist People's War Group, one of several armed peasant movements which hold sway in large parts of the mineral-rich state.
It was the deadliest ambush by Maoists since the mountainous state was carved out of Bihar in 2000. Thousands have died since the 1960s in rural India in uprisings by militants claiming to fight on behalf of the poor against police and wealthy landowners.
In another attempted attack on Wednesday in Jharkhand, suspected Maoists tried to blow up an inter-city train near Jamshedpur by taking out part of the track, police said. A disaster was averted when the driver applied emergency brakes, although the train suffered some damage, police said.
Police said they had sent reinforcements into the area to find the insurgents responsible for the attacks. Officials said there were no plans to cancel the rally by Mr Advani despite warnings by Maoist guerillas that he not stop in Jharkhand on his cross-country campaign tour.
The insurgents, who are believed to have some operational ties with Maoists battling in Nepal, have called a boycott of India's national election scheduled to begin on April 20. "So far Mr Advani's visit has not been cancelled and since this is the hub of insurgency we are taking extra precaution for the rally," a senior official said. -AFP
