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 Maoists on Monday blew up a Border Security Force patrol vehicle on election duty, killing one jawan in Purulia’s Bandwan area. Seven others who were part of the patrol and the driver of the truck were injured in the landmine blast.

Bandwan is a known Maoist hotbed. In December 2005, CPM district secretariat member Rabindranath Kar and his wife were burnt alive by rebels. On May 5 this year, suspected Maoists shot dead a CPM leader.

According to police, the blast occurred around 5.30pm when the eight BSF jawans of the 39th battalion were patrolling the densely forested area between Sirka and Gangamanna, about 15km from the Jharkhand border, in the truck. The dead jawan has been identified as 45-year-old Ali Akbar Sheikh