Security forces exchange fire with Maoists
KOLKATA: The crackle of gunfire could be heard across the fields at Kuldiha village, 12 kilometres from here, as an hour-long gun battle raged on Friday evening between the security forces and Maoist activists and their associates belonging to the Maoist-backed Police Santrosh Birodhi Janasadharaner Committee (PSBJC).
Friday was the second day of the operation launched jointly by the Central paramilitary forces and the State Armed Police against the Maoists to regain control of the Lalgarh area in West Bengal s Paschim Medinipur district.
The paramilitary forces and the police rushed to the area when it was reported that a group of gun-toting Maoists and PSBJC activists had set up barricades on the road leading there. They were surrounded by the Maoists and an exchange of fire ensued.
Later in the evening, the security forces and Maoist activists were involved in another gun battle in a forest near the Lalgarh thana.
Two policemen were injured, one of them seriously, in a landmine explosion near Nimtala, about 15 km from Lalgarh.
The arrival of a unit of the Cobra (Command Battalion for Resolute Action) in the area was another significant development on the day. Sources in the police, however, said the unit would begin operations only after the rest of the forces reached Lalgarh.
There were reports that the Central forces which were advancing towards Lalgarh from Goaltore (30 km from Lalgarh) had to beat a retreat and stop at Pingboni after they came under a volley of arrows shot at them by PSBJC activists and Maoists.
Leaflets written in Bengali and traditional Ol Chiki languages were dropped from a helicopter of the Indian Air Force on behalf of the State government. They carried an appeal to the local people not to support the Maoists who were using them as instruments to serve their purpose. |
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