12
policemen die in Maoist attack in Chattisgarh
Raipur
(Chattisgarh)/ Vishakhapatnam: Maoist rebels have killed
12 policemen and injured a dozen more in two separate attacks
in Chattisgarh. The rebels set off a powerful landmine under
the van of a patrol party in Dantewada district, 480 km
south of Raipur yesterday, killing nine policemen and injuring
eight others.
In
another incident, Maoists raided a police station in Jashpur
district, about 450 km north of Raipur, and shot dead three
policemen and wounded five. The injured were rushed to Vishakhapatnam
in neighbouring Andhra Pradesh, which was the nearest big
town to the site of the attack. "Total nine patients were
admitted yesterday around 7 p.m. (local time). Of them,
two are seriously injured. Other seven have received minor
injuries. We have discharged two-three patients today and
rest will be discharged tomorrow," said L. Ratnakar Roa,
physician at a state-run hospital. The Maoists, who have
a strong presence in many of the state's 16 districts, have
stepped up violent attacks in the past several days, police
said. Last week, they killed eight civilians in an attack
on a government relief camp for tribal people. Three Maoists
were also killed when police returned fire. More than 9,000
Maoist rebels operate in at least nine States, mainly in
the country's east and south, officials say. Maoists, who
hold sway over vast rural areas of eastern and southern
India, claim they are fighting for the rights of landless
labourers and poor peasants, many of them tribesmen. Most
of the times, their main targets are police and paramilitary
forces.
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