Police on Sunday morning killed three Naxalites belonging to the People's War group after the latter triggered a landmine killing three policemen in Andhra Pradesh's Guntur district.
The blast occurred when a team of officials from Dachepalli, accompanied by a police party, was on its way to check the progress of some work being conducted under the government's Janmabhoomi (community work) programme, Deputy Inspector-General of Police (Guntur range) Vinay Ranjan Ray told rediff.com.
The officials were travelling in jeeps while the constables were on motor-cycles. They hit the landmine between Kottur and Sarangapalli Agraharam villages in Dachepalli mandal at around 1115 IST, he said.
Two constables died on the spot while one succumbed to injuries while being shifted to a hospital. They have been identified as Srinivas Rao, Sambasiva Reddy and Koteshwara Rao. A sub-inspector and four constables escaped unhurt.
A police party and some government officials coming from the opposite direction chased the fleeing Naxalites and killed three, including a woman, on the spot.
Police believe that more than twenty Naxalites were involved in the attack.
Ray and District Superintendent of Police Ravishankar Ayyanar are believed to have reached the scene of the blast.