3 SEB employees killed in Naxal blast

Jagdalpur, June 5 (UNI) Three employees of Chhattisgarh State Electricity Board (CSEB) were killed and five policemen injured today when Maoist rebels triggered a landmine blast near Munjameta village in naxalite infested Narayanpur district of Chhattisgarh.

Inspector General of Police (Bastar range) R K Vij told UNI that the blast took place on Narayanpur-Orchha road when the CSEB staff were on their way to Jhara Ghati to repair the electric poles and power transmission towers damaged by the Naxalites few days ago.

He said five security personnel were also injured in the blast. The injured were being shifted to hospital.

Communist Party of India (Maoist) cadres had damaged high tension power transmission lines and electric poles on May 31, disrupting power supply in Bastar region's four districts of Bastar, Dantewada, Narayanpur and Bijapur.

A team of CSEB engineers and workers are camping in Bastar and making efforts to restore power supply but the work is apparently progressing in a slow pace because of the security concerns. Though they have been provided security, there is a fear that the Maoist rebels might have laid landmines around the area where they had damaged high tension transmission lines.

UNI