2 cattle herders dead in land mine blast in Andhra's Visakhapatnam

Two cattle herders were killed after they stepped on a land mine allegedly planted by outlawed Maoists in Andhra Pradesh's Visakhapatnam district. The incident took place in the forests of Kondru tribal hamlet under Injari gram panchayat limits of Pedabayalu block.

Visakhapatnam: Two cattle herders were killed in a land mine blast suspected to be set up by Naxals, in Konduru village of Peda Bayalu Mandal in Visakhapatnam on Monday.

The deceased were identified as Mondipalli Ajay Kumar and Mondipalli Mohan Rao of Jamiguda tribal hamlet of Chintalaveedi gram panchayat.

According to the police, the two tribal youth had gone into the forest in search of some cattle which were missing from the herd after grazing. "They accidentally stepped on a mine planted under the soil on the thoroughfare. It exploded, killing both of them on the spot," the police said.

The two tribal youth, who were unaware of the landmines, ventured into the forest in search of cattle.

"We suspect it to be a pressure mine, rather than remote-controlled sensor mine, as the Maoists use the latter only on seeing the combing police forces," they added.

(With inputs from ANI)