Thirteen policemen, including the officer-in-charge of Bhandaria police station, were killed and two others injured after Maoists blew up an anti-landmine vehicle near the jungles of Bariganwa in the district.
"Thirteen policemen were killed and two policemen were injured in the (landmine) blast in Bariganwa forest," said DGP GS Rath, who visited the spot along with senior officials after the incident occurred under Bhandaria police station at around 11 AM.
There were reports of Maoist abducting four civilians, including zilla parishad chairperson Susma Mehta. Police, however, were not ready to speak on this.
"The Maoists have done it (the ambush) out of frustration. Appropriate action will be taken," Rath said.
Garhwa Deputy Commissioner R P Sinha said Bhandaria BDO Basudev Prasad had a narrow escape as his vehicle passed the area minutes after the Maoists, who were lying in wait at the spot, triggered the blast.
Today's attack came after the December three ambush by the Maoists on Independent MP Inder Singh Namdhari's convoy, killing 10 policemen and an 8-year-old child at Ladu More in Latehar district. Namdhari escaped as the landmine blast took place just after his car crossed the area.
Garhwa SP Michael S Raj said the officer-in-charge of Bhandaria police station R B Choudhary was among the 13 deceased.
Stating that the two injured policemen were taken to a hospital in Ranchi, Raj said it could be ascertained only after postmortem whether the policemen were also hit by bullets.
Eyewitnesses said the vehicle was tossed into the air under the impact of the explosion. When some policemen were trying to come out of the twisted vehicle after it fell on the ground, they were fired upon by the ultras, they said.
The rebels numbering about 50 took away the weapons of the dead and injured policemen, police said, adding that the Maoists set fire to the vehicle before leaving the spot.
The attack took place when the BDO, accompanied by the policemen were going to Bargarh village, about 22 km from the explosion spot, to convince some local people to call off their bandh over a dispute, sources said.
In 2001, the Maoists had ambushed six policemen near the same spot.
Meantime, zilla parishad chairperson Susma Mehta's husband claimed before media that the Maoists have abducted his wife, her bodyguard Sunesh Ram, driver Ahmed and a CPI (ML-Liberation) leader Akhtar Ansari.
The four were going by a car sometime after the incident, he said.
Ansari's family members also corroborated this.
Police, however, remained tight-lipped on the alleged episode.
Comments