Malkangiri, Odisha: At least three Border Security Force (BSF) jawans were on Wednesday morning killed and six others, including an assistant commandant, were severely injured in a landmine blast in the Chitrokonda cut-off area, 75 km from Malkangiri district headquarters.
According to police, at around 7.15 am the BSF jawans in charge of security at the construction site of Gurupriya bridge, were returning to their base camp at Chitrakonda after a combing operation at Raleguda when they accidentally stumbled on a landmine planted near the Janbai Ghat which went off killing three jawans on the spot.
The victims were identified as assistant sub-inspector R. Siddhaya, havildar M. Rabichandran and havildar G. Abinash of 104 BSF Battalion.
While several jawans were injured, six of them including the assistant commandant Ashok Kumar sustained severe injuries.
Following information, additional BSF personnel rushed to the spot and admitted their injured colleagues in the district headquarters hospital.
Till reports last came in, combing operation in the area has been intensified to track down the rebels.
Police sources said the landmine blast was planned by the rebels to take revenge on the security personnel for the killing of three of their comrades on August 1 during a combing operation in the same area.
The state intelligence had in fact alerted the security personnel deployed in region for a possible attack.
