Three junior commandos of Telangana’s anti-Maoist force, Greyhounds, were killed in a landmine blast triggered by Naxalites in Mulugu district of the state, bordering Chhattisgarh, on Thursday.

This was the first fatality of the year for the state police, which is engaged in anti-Maoist operations.

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The Greyhounds commandos were involved in a routine area domination exercise in Wazeedu-Peruru forest during early hours of the day when the blast occurred at Veerabhadravaram- Tadpala hillocks, leaving all three critically injured.

The blast occurred a day after security forces gunned down 22 Maoists in Chhattisgarh’s Bijapur district in an encounter as part of the Centre’s counterinsurgency operation, Sankalp. The operation had taken place in the Karregutta forest region, which spread over the border areas between Chhattisgarh and Telangana.

Besides triggering the improvised explosive device (IED) in the area, the Maoists had also fired on the security forces. According to sources, some security personnel were injured in the heavy gunfire. A critically injured sub-inspector was airlifted to Hyderabad for treatment.

The bodies of the three deceased commandos, identified as Sandeep, Pawan Kalyan and Sridhar, were brought to the Mahatma Gandhi Memorial hospital in Warangal for post-mortem.

Telangana DGP Jitender and additional DGP (Greyhounds) Stephen Raveendra paid respect to the deceased jawans. Maoists have recently planted IEDs in the Karregutta area and warned local tribals against setting foot on the hillocks. After the Centre mounted a large-scale counterinsurgency operation in the Maoists dominated areas, the members of the banned CPI (Maoists) are on the run.