Naxal youth killed in blast under bridge

Sidhi, MP , Mar 8 (UNI) A suspected naxal was killed at about 1515 hrs today when explosives he was carrying exploded under a crude bridge near Churhat in this district while polling was underway for Lok Sabha byelection, the police said.

''A portion of the hitherto-unidentified body of a youth, about 20 years old, was found entangled in a pipeline below the bridge on the Churhat Dariya-Teekat road, roughly 35 km from this district town. The rest of the corpse was in the dry nullah. Two nine-volt batteries were found in the vicinity,'' said Additional Superintendent of Police Saket Pande.

It was suspected that the youth was carrying dynamite in his pants pocket that struck the pipeline while he was entering it.

District Collector Sukhbeer Singh and SP D Shrinivas Verma reached the spot.

Sidhi is one of the few naxalism-affected backward districts in this state and Churhat is the hometown of Union Minister Arjun Singh.

UNI