Seven killed in Maoist violence

At least seven people including three members of the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) were killed on Friday in separate incidents of Maoist violence near the border of Chhattisgarh and Maharashtra.

At least seven people including three members of the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) were killed on Friday in separate incidents of Maoist violence near the border of Chhattisgarh and Maharashtra.

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Alongside the landmine blast targeting the ITBP troopers, the ultras also hurled a bomb at a tribal residential school, killing four persons including two students and the school’s cook. Eight students were injured, three of them seriously.

A landmine blast was triggered at another spot in the area.

The jeep with the ITBP troopers was going to Kohka, a border outpost of Chhattisgarh police, from Swargaon, some 300 km from here.

It has been learnt that the troopers went to Sawargaon from Kohka on Friday morning in two jeeps. The incident took place when they were returning to Kohka. The victims have been identified as Head Constable Jairam, Constable Sibu and jeep driver Dinesh Prasad.

Talking to Hindustan Times, Gadchiroli SP Viresh Prabhu said: “We could not reach the spot. Our Chhattisgarh counterparts came and took away the bodies.”

There was confusion on where the blast took place. Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG) Sunil Ramanandan refused to talk to the media. Finally Prabhu said that the incident took place near Sawargaon.

The rebels set off another landmine and ambushed a police team near the Swargaon-Manpur road. However, the police vehicle was not damaged, nor was anyone injured.

The red brigade had killed four policemen and injured eight others in two separate landmine blasts in Gadchiroli on October 4 and 5. Among the victims, one was a police inspector of the CRPF while two were sub-inspectors of Maharashtra police.