At least 29 police officers were killed and many others injured when several landmines exploded in the eastern Indian state of Jharkhand, news reports said on Thursday.
Maoist militant groups were suspected of detonating the devices, police sources said.
The blasts occurred on Wednesday night when a convoy of about 150 police officers triggered the landmines planted in a forest, the sources were quoted by India’s UNI news agency as saying.
Police had been searching for a rebel hideout.
Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and his deputy, Lal Krishna Advani, were expected to arrive in Jharkhand on Thursday on an election campaign tour for parliamentary elections beginning on April 20.
The rebels had threatened not to let the politicians enter the state. In view of the elections, Maoist rebels had also announced attacks on security forces.
Four vehicles were destroyed by the force of the explosions, UNI reported. The local police chief was among those injured. The Maoist Communist Centre was suspected of masterminding the ambush.
Security forces have been strengthened and are hunting the attackers.
Several Maoist terror groups operate in eastern India and claim to be fighting for poor farmers’ rights. — Sapa-DPA