Ranchi, May 28: Maoists triggered a landmine blast today to target Palamau superintendent of police, killing one of his commandos and injuring two others who were leading the way to a market 30km away from the district headquarters.

SP Anup Mathew was 15ft behind commando Upendra Singh, who was part of the group that was escorting the senior police officer when the mine was detonated around 8.30am at Birhnia More in Manatu, 12km from Palamau town.

Mathew was on his way to the Chak market to talk to local residents who were being terrorised by rebels to shut down their shops since January to force the police to remove a picket from the area.

“Around 50 policemen were trekking to the spot when the blast occurred,” said a police source.

Upendra, a commando of the district armed police (DAP), who bore the brunt of the blast, died on the spot.

The injured, Ashok Sahu, a DAP commando, and Shyam Tiwari, a commando of the No. 2 battalion of Jharkhand Armed Police, were airlifted to Ranchi where they were admitted to Apollo Hospital.