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Land Mine Explosion Kills 9 Policemen in India
Suspected leftist guerrillas exploded a land mine Monday, killing nine policemen and one civilian near a south Indian village, police said.
The policemen had hired a private jeep and were on their way to inspect local elections when the blast occurred near Bondlamotu, 220 miles east of Hyderabad, capital of the southern Andhra Pradesh state, a police spokesman said.
The land mine went off as the jeep passed through a culvert, said police spokesman Shujat Ali. Guerrillas of the outlawed People's War Group triggered the blast using a remote control device, he said.
One sub-inspector, eight constables and the driver of the jeep were killed. Two more policemen were wounded and the jeep was destroyed, Ali said.
In another attack, the rebels shot and wounded a local leader of Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's Bharatiya Janata Party in Jangaon town, 125 miles north of Hyderabad, police said.
Srinivas Reddy was reported safe after doctors operated on him to remove the bullets. Reddy was the fourth district president of the Bharatiya Janata Party in the state to be targeted by the guerrillas.
The rebels, who claim to be defending the rights of the poor, have been fighting the government to create a state based on the ideas of Lenin.
Since it was founded, more than 6,000 people have died in attacks and clashes between the guerillas and the police. The northern part of Andhra Pradesh, which has a large concentration of poor tribespeople, is the group's stronghold.
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