Over 350 landmines found in three days in Jharkhand

Over 350 landmines, planted by Maoist guerrillas at different places in Jharkhand's Palamau district, have been recovered in the last three days, police said on Tuesday.

Around 100 landmines planted near Taal Ghati area, situated under Palamau district which is over 200 km from Ranchi, were recovered on Tuesday.

According to police, these were planted in a series on non-tarred road to blow up police vehicles.

Security forces on Saturday and Sunday recovered over 250 landmines from the Panki-Balumath road on the bordering areas of Palamu and Latehar during search operations.

"Maoist Guerrillas are on the backfoot for the last several months. They are desperate to execute big incidents and they have planted landmines in a large scale. Considering the previous recoveries, we have stepped up search operations. Everyday we are successfully recovering landmines," a police official told IANS.

Police recovered explosives on the outskirts of Ranchi which included gelatine sticks, detonators and live bullets from Tupudana, situated around 20 Km from Ranchi.

A letter head of Maoist organisation People's Liberation Front of India (PLFI) was also recovered.

Maoist guerrillas are active in 18 of the 24 districts of Jharkhand.