Three Greyhounds Killed in Landmine Blast in Maoist Area in Telangana

Three junior commanders of the greyhounds (Telangana police’s anti-Maoist force) were killed in a landmine blast on Thursday morning at the Telangana-Chhattisgarh border area. A reserve sub-inspector also got injured in the blast. According to the Telangana police, this blast was triggered by Maoists and was the first fatal incident experienced by the Telangana police at the hands of the left-wing extremists this year. 

According to senior police officials, these commandos were struck by the landmines when they were doing a routine area domination exercise. 

“The armed guards of banned CPI (Maoist)  planted IEDs in the forest area under Venkatapuram, Wazeedu and Perur Police Station limits of Mulugu district. The Maoists had given a statement that they had planted bombs in the area and asked Aadhivasi and others not to move in the area. To unearth IEDs…a petrol team…started searching the areas on the night of May 7,” said Telangana DGP Dr Jitender in a statement.

A group of 35 to 40 banned, CPI Maoist extremists, including women, were waiting in ambush with deadly weapons. As soon as the landlines were triggered, heavy gunfire from a distance, targeting the petrol and the search party, started.

While the fatality did not occur during any intended offensive operation, Chhattisgarh police have been hunting down Maoists in the Karregutta hillock at the state border for the past three weeks.