11 Police personnel including an additional SP were killed in Chhattisgarh last night when the Maoists blasted the land mines in a forest area.

A special police combing team led Mr Rajesh Pawar, additional SP of the Gariyabandh district, went to the forest area in the Orissa and Chhattisgarh border on a tip off that the Maoists were meeting. But they could not locate the Maoists.

When their vehicle broke down during their return journey, they sought the help of the local tribals who arranged a tractor. On the advice of the villagers, the police personnel selected a route in the thick forest and made their return journey on the tractor which was towed to the failed jeep.

After some distance, Maoists blasted a land mine killing all of them on the spot. Reports indicated that the villagers misguided the police personnel on the instructions of the Maoists and made them take a path that was full of Naxal-arranged landmines.