At least 12 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel were killed in a landmine blast after being trapped by guerrillas in Chaibasa district of Jharkhand, central-east India Thursday, police said.

The blast took place at around 2 PM near Karmapada forest, 230 km from Ranchi, capital of Jharkhand, when the security personnel were returning in a jeep to the district headquarters after defusing bombs that were planted in a school, police said.

Guerrillas had trapped the CRPF personnel, as the victims were new to Jharkhand and were unaware of the rebels trap tactics, police said.

"The CRPF personnel had gone on a long range patrolling on Wednesday. They went to the Thalkobad secondary school for night stay and found landmines planted there," Indo-Asian News Service quoted G.S Rath, additional director of general of police (special branch) as saying.

They called in the bomb disposal squad. Eight bombs were defused Wednesday and the rest were deactivated Thursday. They were returning to the district headquarters after completing the job when the blast triggered by the guerrillas took place, the official said.

Three of the victims belonged to the bomb disposal squad.

The blast is seen as a move to revenge the arrest of two rebels in Chatra district Wednesday.

Guerrillas are active in 16 of the 22 districts of the state. Nearly 550 people including 230 Indian security personnel have been killed in the last five years in rebel related violence in the state.

(Xinhua News Agency June 2, 2006)