Nawada: Eight policemen, including an officer in-charge and a sub-inspector were killed and three others seriously injured when the outlawed Maoist Communist Centre (MCC) blew up a patrol vehicle in Bihar's naxal-hit Nawada district on April 15.

Five Bihar Military Police Jawans and the driver of the police vehicle were also killed in the land mine blast, which was detonated by the extremists in the dense forests of Cherki valley when a police patrol was returning to Govindpur police station.

The eight police died on the spot and the extremists escaped after looting 6 SLRs (Self-Loading Rifles), 2 rifles and one revolver and several rounds of ammunition from them. The three injured were admitted to government hospitals at Govindpur and Akbarpur where their condition was stated to be critical condition.

Bihar police have launched an all out effort to apprehend the extremists and assistance has been sought from the adjacent Jharkhand police as an alert has been sounded in the extremist-hit adjacent districts of central Bihar and Jharkhand.

PTI