Red violence has struck Gadchiroli in eastern Maharashtra and Chhattisgarh’s Bastar region in quick succession.
Close to death of members of a wedding party on May 5 in a landmine explosion in Gadchiroli, three red rebels and five policemen were killed on Thursday in separate encounters.
This happened after the area remained relatively peaceful for a year. In another incident on Thursday in Chhattisgarh’s Bijapur district, Maoists shot dead a police constable and abducted a special police officer (SPO). The security men had gone to attend a wedding when the rebels attacked them. In the gun-fight a Maoist too was killed. The guerrillas fled the area after abducting the SPO.
This comes just after 5 CRPF jawans were killed by Maoists in Dantewada on May 17.
One encounter in Gadchirloi took place when a joint party of the CRPF and the anti-Maoist squad gunned down two members of the red brigade in a jungle. A trooper of the anti-Maoist squad also died in the encounter. The exchange of fire lasted two hours from 7.30am to 9.30am.
Gadchiroli additional superintendent of police Rahul Seth said police found an AK 47 and other lethal weapons from the Maoists who were killed.
{{/usCountry}}Gadchiroli additional superintendent of police Rahul Seth said police found an AK 47 and other lethal weapons from the Maoists who were killed.
{{/usCountry}}“Such weapons show the left-wing extremists who were killed in the encounter might be senior leaders in their organisation,” Seth said.
In another incident about 50 km away, the red rebels killed at least three policemen in a gun-battle that continued for three hours. When an additional police force reached there, the Maoists fled. It is not known whether any of the Maoist rebels were either injured or killed in this incident.