Maoist landmine kills two tribals in forest area of Visakhapatnam

Police said there was specific information that the landmine was planted by the Maoists targeting the security forces combing in the area for the last few days

Two Adivasis were killed after they stepped on a landmine allegedly planted by outlawed Maoists in Andhra Pradesh’s Visakhapatnam district on Monday afternoon, police said.

The two tribal youth had gone into the forest in search of some cattle which were missing from the herd after grazing.(Representative Photo/Getty Images)

The incident took place in the forests of Kondru tribal hamlet under Injari gram panchayat limits of Pedabayalu block at around 4 pm. The deceased were identified as Mondipalli Ajay Kumar and Mondipalli Mohan Rao of Jamiguda tribal hamlet of Chintalaveedi gram panchayat.

According to the police, the two tribal youth had gone into the forest in search of some cattle which were missing from the herd after grazing. “They accidentally stepped on a mine planted under the soil on the thoroughfare. It exploded, killing both of them on the spot,” Pedyabayalu sub-inspector of police Raja Rao said.

He said there was specific information that the landmine was planted by the Maoists targeting the security forces combing in the area for the last few days. “We came to know that the Maoists had planted landmines in the Kondru forest area and our forces have been avoiding the route in the last two days,” the SI said.

The two tribal youth, who were unaware of the landmines, ventured into the forest in search of cattle. “We suspect it to be a pressure mine, rather than remote-controlled sensor mine, as the Maoists use the latter only on seeing the combing police forces,” Raja Rao said.

The bodies were still lying in the village, as the police did not go there because of Maoist threat. “The village is located deep in the interior and inaccessible by road. We shall shift the bodies to the hospital for post-mortem on Tuesday,” the SI said.