Maoists blast: Narrow escape for cops in East Godavari district

RAJAHMUNDRY: 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.