kill 24 jawans in West Bengal : Maoists attack

Midnapore (KOLKATA) : Maoist guerrillas today stormed an Eastern Frontier Rifles camp and killed at least 24 policemen in their biggest strike yet on a state force, taking advantage of a weekly bazaar as they crept up on the unsuspecting cops.

Before leaving, the rebels, many of them women, set fire to the camp in Shilda, 75km from Midnapore town.



When police reinforcements from Binpur and Belpahari, some 8-10km away, reached the spot about three hours later trekking through forests to avoid mined roads, they found bodies strewn across the tents still smouldering on the grounds of the local primary health centre. Some policemen, who had taken bullets during the one-hour 5pm attack, lay groaning.

“At least 21 policemen have died in the attack,” said West Midnapore district magistrate N.S. Nigam.

“This is the heaviest casualty that Bengal police have suffered at the hands of Maoists,” said Surajit Kar Purkayastha, IG, law and order. “Never before have the police here suffered so many losses in one attack. Arms and ammunition were also looted. We are taking stock to find out just how much has been looted.”

Later in the night, Maoist guerrilla wing chief Kishanji warned of more attacks unless Operation Greenhunt was stopped. “This is our reply to Operation Greenhunt that has been launched against us, especially since innocent villagers are also being targeted. Unless the operation is halted, we shall carry on with such attacks, not just in Bengal but all across the country,” he said.

Maoist polit bureau member Kishanji claimed responsibility for the attack and said it was an answer to Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram’s ‘Operation Green Hunt’.

“In the last two months, several persons were killed in various States in the name of ‘Operation Green Hunt’. This was a counter-offensive in response to the Centre’s offensive,” Kishanji told a local news channel.

While there were reports of the Maoists too suffering casualty when the security forces retaliated, Kishanji denied the same. He called the attack as a part of the outfit’s “Peace Hunt” operations.

Director-General of Police Bhupinder Singh told