Continuing their terror in order to make their presence felt in Malkangiri district, a group of Maoists blew up a block office building at Padia under the Kalimela police limits in the district early on Wednesday using powerful explosives.
According to Malkangiri Superintendent of Police Akhileswar Singh, around 50 ultras, including women, stormed into Padia, 70 km from Malkangiri town, at 2 am on Wednesday and entered the block office building after breaking its lock. They set the building on fire before triggering a powerful blast, causing extensive damages to the
structure. No one was harmed in the attack.
The SP said the attack was a desperate attempt by the Maoists to counter stepped up anti-Maoist operations mounted by the security forces in the region. Combing operation would be intensified in the area after the incident.
Due to the blast, four of the five rooms in the building with asbestos roof were completely damaged, destroying volumes of documents and important records of several sections including GPO, development and establishment section, said Padia BDO Trinath Majhi.
A Maoist poster found at the site stated that the attack was in protest against an encounter with security forces in September this year in which 13 ultras had been killed. The poster demanded a halt to the anti-Maoist operations and withdrawal of the BSF from the region.
Notably, the Maoists had also blown up a new building of the Padia block office in September 2010, following which work was being done from the old building, which is now destroyed in the predawn attack. In another incident, an exchange of fire between Maoists and a joint force of Ganjam police and DVF took place near the Indragarh forest in Raikia in Kandhamal district at 10.30am on Wednesday, close to the Ganjam border.
Though there was no casualty reported so far, the police seized powerful explosives along with some Maoist articles after busting a Red camp in the forest, said the police sources.
The joint forces seized powerful explosives, rifle, electric detonator, 36 grenades, landmines, VHF charger, electric wire and Maoist literature from the camp. It was informed by Southern Range DIG Amitabh Thakur at a Press meet organised by the Kandhamal police at Phulbani.
Thakur said they have arrested Pratap Pradhan for demanding money from RKD construction in guise of a Maoist on Sunday. The police got a diary from Pradhan which helped them to bust the Maoist camp, he added.
“But unfortunately Pradhan died on Monday and he was sent to Brahmapur for postmortem,” said the DIG.
Ganjam SP Ashish Singh and Kandhamal SP Kanwar Bishal Singh said seven to ten members of Maoists of Nikhil, Krishna and Sunil group of Ghumusar division fled from the spot.