Fourteen people were killed and four injured when Naxalites blew up a jeep carrying 18 people in Pakhanjur area of Kanker district in north Bastar late Friday night. Kanker SP Pradeep Gupta said the Naxalites apparently mistook the vehicle for a police jeep. A police party was patrolling the Ghodagaon area on Friday as a “Naxali-Bhagao” rally was to be held there.
The injured had to wait till 11 am Saturday morning before they got any help as nobody dared to go to the site immediately after the incident. When State Home Minister Ram Vichar Netam, MLA Vikram Usendi and DGP OP Rathor reached the area, hundreds of villagers gheraoed them raising slogans and forcing them to turn back. The Home Minister has announced an ex-gratia payment of Rs 2 lakhs for the family members of the deceased besides Rs 10,000 each for performing last rites. He also announced that the Government would provide jobs to one member of each family that had suffered a death. Netam blamed the Centre for not cooperating with the State in fighting the Naxals.
Udaygiri(Orissa): Combing operations by security forces continued in the forests of Gajapati district after a daring Naxal attack on Ramgiri Udayagiri town in which four persons, including three policemen, were killed. Some residents of R. Udaygiri are cursing their fate for living close to the police station and barracks.
They had undergone a similar experience in 1998. A woman in Christian Sahi situated close to the police barrack told HT: "The Naxalites are still keeping a close watch on us. And they will not spare us if we want to divulge anything.
{{/usCountry}}They had undergone a similar experience in 1998. A woman in Christian Sahi situated close to the police barrack told HT: "The Naxalites are still keeping a close watch on us. And they will not spare us if we want to divulge anything.
{{/usCountry}}Had our houses not been located so close to this police barrack, we would have been spared".