Seven policemen killed in landmine blast

By A.Saye Sekhar

BANDLAMOTU (Guntur Dt.), AUG. 20. Seven Policemen, including a sub-inspector of police, and the driver of a private jeep by which they travelled, were killed in a deadly landmine explosion near a culvert in this village at Vinukonda around 9.30 am today. The landmine was triggered by the Chandravanka dalam of the People's War Group. The Chief Minister, Mr. N.Chandrababu Naidu, who visited the scene of the blast, said that naxalites were pursuing an obsolete ideology of achieving ``power through the barrel of the gun.''

The blast was so powerful that the body of the sub- inspector, Mr. T.Venkateswarlu, was thrown 200 metres away. The body of the driver of the private jeep was found in the culvert. The blast created a huge crater of four metres diameter, and depth of two metres. As the vehicle was approaching a culvert near the village, the landmine was triggered. A bus, bound for Macherla, arrived on the scene minutes after the blast, and the driver, Mr. B.B.K.Naik, and the conductor, Mr. S.Murali, lifted three injured constables and took them to Vinukonda. One of these constables died en route.

The explosive consisted of four buckets of five kg each substance, which was connected with a 300-metre telephone wire to a point and ignited through a camera flash. The police found cooked food, a cap and a pamphlet scribbled with slogans near the scene. This is the first landmine blast by the PWG in Guntur district and the village is on the fringes of the Nallamala forest range.

The Home Minister, Mr. T.Devender Goud, the Director- General of Police, Mr. H.J.Dora, and the Inspector-General of Police (Intelligence), Mr. A. Sivasankar, came with the Chief Minister. Mr. Chandrababu Naidu went atop a hillock nearby and surveyed the scene. He said the naxalites laid a trap by telephoning the sub- inspector that there was a clash in the village to lure him to come to the village in a jeep. ``This is a heinous act and an unfortunate incident,'' he added.

Asked by reporters as to how the four of them, having high security risk, could travel together to visit the blast site, the Chief Minister said that it was their duty to do so. He added: ``I am pained by the incident. The whole Government is trying to concentrate on development and reduce poverty, but naxalites are hindering this effort.''

Asked whether he would invite naxalites for talks, Mr. Chandrababu Naidu said that the Government was ready to hold talks, and he appealed to them to join the mainstream after eschewing violence. But if some people vitiated the atmosphere for talks with ulterior motives, the Government will have to effectively enforce law and order.``

According to the Superintendent of Police, Mr. J.Purnachandra Rao, the sub-inspector was travelling in the private jeep with four civilian constables and four Armed Reserve constables to Ramidicherla village for bandobust in connection with the gram panchayat elections.

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Section  : Southern States
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