Hyderabad: In a major strategic blunder, People's War Group (PWG) extremists blew up a state road transport corporation (RTC) bus, mistaking it to be carrying police personnel, killing at least 14 passengers, mostly tribals, in Warangal district of Andhra Pradesh on November 18 night.

The RTC bus was blown to smithereens using a remote control device near Chintagudam village in a deep forest area, considered a stronghold of naxalites, about 150 Kms from Warangal town.

As PWG's tactical error proved costly, the tribals, returning to Eturu Nagaram after attending a weekly shandy in Tupakulagudem, became victims of the blast that came in the backdrop of a fierce encounter in a nearby Ilapur forest area on November 17 that resulted in the death of five ultras.

The landmine blast was apparently a retaliatory attack targeting policemen who were believed to have participated in the encounter, police said.

The Naxals, however, missed their target and blasted a passenger bus, resulting in the death of 14 persons, including the bus driver and conductor, and serious injuries to 17 others.

As the blast occurred in remote forest area, there was considerable delay in information reaching the district headquarters and there was also confusion about the death toll.

Of the injured, nine persons have been shifted to a government hospital at Warangal, the deputy inspector general of police Gouthan Sawang said.

Taking a serious note of the attack, Andhra Pradesh Assembly on November 19 set aside its listed agenda and adopted an unanimous resolution condemning the incident and re-iterating an appeal to the extremists to shun violence and join social mainstream.

The resolution, moved by Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, conveyed condolences to bereaved families of passengers, mostly tribals, who became victims of the blast in what has turmed out to be a case of "mistaken identity".

PTI