A 25-year-old woman was killed after an improvised explosive device (IED) planted by Naxalites went off in Chhattisgarh’s Bijapur district on Saturday, the police said.

Shanti Punem was collecting tendu leaves near Mallur village within the limits of the Gangaloor police station when she died in the blast, a police official said. Engrossed in her work, Punem stepped on the pressure IED, triggering the explosion, the official said.

The scene of the blast is about 20 km from Pidia village, where 12 Naxalites were gunned down in an encounter with security personnel on Friday.

After being alerted about the incident, a police team was sent to the spot, he said.

Naxalites often plant IEDs along roads, dirt tracks and in forests to target security personnel during patrolling in the interior pockets of the Bastar region comprising seven districts, including Bijapur, the official said.

Many civilians have fallen prey to such explosives laid by ultras in the past in Bastar, he said.

In Bijapur, a man was killed after a pressure IED planted by Naxals went off in the Gangaloor area on April 20, while a worker engaged in road construction lost his life in a similar blast in the Mirtur area of the same district on April 12.

In a related development on Saturday, a Naxalite was killed in an encounter with security personnel in the forests along the border of Dhamatri and Gariaband districts.

Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by The Telegraph Online staff and has been published from a syndicated feed.