Injured policemen and polling officials at Sikaripara, in Dumka district on Thursday. (PTI) Injured policemen and polling officials at Sikaripara, in Dumka district on Thursday. (PTI)

Five police personnel and three polling officials were killed when suspected Maoists targeted the bus in which they were travelling in Sikaripara block of Dumka district on Thursday evening.

According to officials, the incident occurred at around 4.30 pm, when an IED placed under a bridge went off as the bus was passing over it. The Maoists are also reported to have fired at the team, which was returning from a polling booth in Asna village.

Ten people were injured in the attack. Security personnel took a couple of hours to reach the spot.

Shivshankar Rajak, whose father was one of the polling officials, said, “My father, Ram Pratap Rajak, called up my mother at around 6 pm and said he had received a bullet injury on his leg. He said he had lost a lot of blood.”

While some parts of Jharkhand voted in two phases held earlier, polling for the Dumka, Rajmahal, Godda and Dhanbad Lok Sabha seats was held on Thursday.

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