Malkangiri: Two persons including the driver of a jeep and a passenger were critically injured when the vehicle they were travelling in was blown off in a landmine blast at Rajkot under the Basaguda Police Limits near Odisha-Chhattisgarh border, on Tuesday.
The inured, identified as Balaram Pradhan and Muhammad Iqbal, have been admitted to the nearby Bijapur hospital in critical conditions.
Sources said that suspected Maoists guerrillas had planted the landmine on the road to target vehicles carrying security personnel. However, a Bolero jeep used to ferry villagers in the area accidentally ran over it. While the vehicle has been completely mangled in the impact of the blast, the driver and the co-passenger have been critically hurt.
Following the incident, combing operation has been intensified in the area.
Earlier on October 11, a team of CRPF jawans had diffused a landmine planted by the Maoists at K Balanga area of Sundargarh district. Around 15 kg of IED had been packed in a steel container and was filled with liquid explosives and sharp iron splinters in the mine. Its detonator had been fitted with command mechanism on a kutcha track of Hatigurah village in the foothills near Jharberha area. The security personnel had stumbled upon the landmine during the combing operation. The IED had been destroyed on the spot.
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