A civilian and seven members of the armed police of Orissa, a state in southeastern India, were killed after a landmine allegedly planted by Maoist Naxalite guerrillas, exploded near a military vehicle, an official source said Thursday.
This is a Naxalite region, and they were responsible, the state's Director General of Police KB Singh said, confirming the accident took place Wednesday evening on Highway 26 in Koraput district, near the border between Orissa and Andhra Pradesh.
Following the death of one of the injured, the number of dead has risen to eight, while five other "uniformed" were also hurt, he said.
The Maoist guerilla movement, locally known as Naxalites, was born in a 1967 uprising in a village in the eastern state of West Bengal, later spreading to neighbouring states such as Orissa.
It is now particularly active in the so-called Red Corridor, a swath of territory stretching from central to eastern India.
According to the South Asia Terrorism Portal, 433 people were killed in incidents of left-wing extremism in India in 2016, including 72 deaths in Orissa.