A landmine, carrying 50 kg of explosives, planted by Naxals, was unearthed on Monday from a national highway in Dantewada district of Chhattishgarh, police said.
The landmine was detected by a special police team on NH-221 near Manikonta village in Errabor, on a tip off that ultras had placed explosives deep under the road, Dantewada Superintendent of Police Amresh Mishra said.
Naxals opened fire on the police team which reached there to de-mine the road. The battle continued for over 30 minutes following which Maoists fled the spot, he said.
There were no casualties in the encounter and operations are on to remove the landmines, the police official said.
Mr. Mishra said that they have received information on the presence of more Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs)/landmines on this highway following which security forces have been pressed into service to scan the stretch.
The Maoists might have planned another deadly IED blast after the Bijapur incident on Saturday which left eight CRPF personnel dead, he said.
