Three police personnel, including a deputy superintendent of police, were killed and three others injured on Monday when Maoists triggered a landmine blast on the Tamar-Pundi road bridge.

The impact of the powerful blast sent the police gypsy tossing up, killing DSP Pramod Kumar Sinha and two constables who had accompanied him to conduct raids at Lungtu, Deputy Inspector General of Police R K Mullick said.

The injured constables were rushed to the Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences.

Additional police reinforcements have been rushed to launch a combing operation in the Naxal-affected areas in Bundu.

According to police sources, Sinha was the third officer in the DSP-rank to succumb to Naxal attack in the past eight years.