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RANCHI, Jan 28: Maoist rebels have killed 11 people, including nine policemen, in Ranchi, capital of Jharkhand state, in a landmine blast, police said on Monday.
The Maoists triggered the mine on Sunday evening, blowing up a vehicle carrying nine members of the Jharkhand Armed Police, all of whom died on the spot.
Two other people on a motorbike were killed in the explosion, said a police spokesman.
The police vehicle was ambushed while returning from a village fair.
ASSAM ON HIGH ALERT: Indian troops went on high alert on Monday in Assam following a series of attacks by separatists in which two policemen were killed and 26 others wounded, officials said.
“We have put our forces on maximum alert across Assam in view of the attacks by militants,” the state’s police chief said.
Militants of the outlawed United Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA) triggered a powerful landmine blast on Sunday, killing two policemen and wounding four more close to Assam’s capital, Guwahati.
The dead include Guwahati deputy superintendent of police, Debojit Pathak, and his driver.
ULFA rebels also exploded a landmine on a paramilitary Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) convoy in eastern Assam’s Golaghat district, wounding at least 12 soldiers, five of them critically.
In another incident in eastern Assam, militants triggered a remote controlled bomb planted inside a shop in Karbi Anglong district, injuring some 12 civilians Sunday night.
At least 47 people have died in separate attacks by militants in Assam during the past fortnight.
“The attacks are an act of desperation with the rebels unable to carry out any major strikes on or before Republic Day on Saturday,” the police chief said.
“Our troops foiled all attempts to sabotage the celebrations.”—AFP
