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Militants kill 22 policemen in India

BHOPAL: At least 22 policemen were killed on Sunday when a landmine planted by suspected left-wing extremists exploded in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh, police said.

The blast occurred at 9:30 a.m. (0400 GMT) in Bustar, a tribal district around 1,000 km (620 miles) south of the state capital Bhopal.

The dead included an assistant superintendent of police, a sub-inspector and one of his assistants and three head constables, police said.

Two policemen were injured in the blast, they added.

"No group has claimed responsibility for the blast but it is suspected that it could be the work of the People's War Group (PWG)," a senior police official, A.N. Singh, told Reuters.

PWG is an insurgent group of Naxalites that targets landlords and law enforcement officials across large tracts of forest in the states of Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa and Maharashtra.

Its members are named after the eastern Indian town of Naxalbari, where the movement originated decades ago.

The attack on the police is the second by the PWG in the last 48 hours. ON Friday seven policemen were killed in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh when they police post came under attack.-Reuters