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Maoists kill 11 in India, loot explosives
RAIPUR, India - Close to 200 Maoist rebels stormed a state-run explosives store in eastern India, killing eight federal policemen and taking away a huge cache of explosives and detonators, police said on Friday. Seven policemen were wounded, several seriously with multiple bullet wounds, in the raid on a National Mineral Development Corporation unit located on a hill 450 km (280 miles) south of Raipur, capital of the mineral-rich Chhattisgarh state.The Maoists, armed with automatic weapons and rifles, managed to enter the store after a firefight with members of the Central Industrial Security Force based there to protect it. There were no reports of Maoist casualties. Senior police officer R.K. Paswan said the Maoists had taken rifles from the dead and wounded policemen as well as 2,100 rounds of bullets besides explosives and melted away into the forests. NMDC uses explosives for iron ore mining in the region. In two separate attacks late on Thursday night in Dantewada district -- the same district where the NMDC unit is located, -- police said Maoist rebels gunned down three men suspected of cooperating with the police in counter-insurgency operations. The latest raid by Maoist rebels, who claim to fight for Indias impoverished peasants and landless labourers, followed two separate attacks by guerrillas in Chhattisgarh earlier this week that killed 12 policemen. More than 9,000 Maoist rebels operate in at least nine Indian states, and in the past year they have stepped up attacks on security personnel, prompting criticism of the federal government for not tackling them harder. Chhattisgarh is a major iron ore producing state. Maoist rebels say the benefits of mining do not reach the impoverished people in the state, especially its large tribal population. Posted by: 2006-02-10 |
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