Seven personnel of the Odisha police were killed when their vehicle was blown up, allegedly by Maoists, in a landmine blast on NH 26 near Sunki in Koraput district on Wednesday evening.
Speaking to The Hindu after the search and rescue operation, Deputy Inspector General of Police, South-West Range, S. Shaini, confirmed the death of seven policemen. Five others were seriously injured.
Vehicle ambushed
The vehicle was transporting a few assistant drivers of the police department to Cuttack for training. There were 13 passengers, including the driver.
Between 4.50 and 5 p.m., the vehicle blew up when it was crossing a culvert near Mungarbhumi, around two kilometres from the Sunki ghat road.
The site of the blast is just one-and-a-half kilometres from the Andhra Pradesh border. The blast was so intense that the culvert was blown away and the police vehicle fell off the ghat road.
Maoists from Andhra Pradesh, who are active in this region of Odisha, are suspected to be behind the blast. It is believed that the landmine was not pressure-activated, as many civilian vehicles had passed the stretch a few minutes earlier. It was most likely triggered from a nearby location to target the police personnel.
‘Retaliatory’ attack
The stretch on NH 26 where the blast occurred continues to be a Maoist infested region. A similar landmine blast on August 27, 2013, at a culvert near Ralegada between Pottangi and Sunki killed four Border Security Force personnel. The highway connects Visakhapatnam and Raipur and passes through Koraput.
The latest landmine blast is believed to be a retaliation by Maoists to a joint security operation in the cutoff area of Malkangiri district in October 2016. Thirty Maoists were killed in the operation.
