India Blast Kills Two Policemen on Election Day
An explosion killed two policemen Monday in north India, police said, on the same day that national elections kicked off in the world's largest democracy with security high across the country.
The policemen were killed in the explosion of a bomb they were trying to defuse in Aurangabad district, 150 kilometers (93 miles) from Bihar state's capital Patna.
The region where the blast occurred is known for its Maoist insurgency.
"Two security men were killed and nine injured when an IED (improvised explosive device) exploded," police official Ravinder Kumar told AFP.
Bihar police "strongly suspect" the Maoists were to blame for the bomb, police said, but there has been no claim of responsibility from the ultra-leftists.
Police said the bomb may have been a scare tactic by the Maoists ahead of the polling in Bihar which is staggered over six phases starting Thursday.
The Maoists have urged voters to boycott the election being held in nine phases across the country. The marathon national vote winds up May 12.
The Maoists have become a potent insurgent force, demanding land and jobs for the poor and fighting for a communist society by toppling what they call India's "semi-colonial, semi-feudal" form of rule.
The insurgency has cost thousands of lives, with much action focused around the insurgent-dominated, so-called "Red Corridor" stretching through central and eastern India.
Last December, Maoists killed seven policemen in a landmine blast in eastern India.
Source: Agence France Presse
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