Bike-borne Naxals run away with police guns
At least five security personnel were martyred on Friday in an attack by the CPI-Maoist on a patrol party at Khukru block under Tiruldih police station in Seraikela Kharsawan district of Jharkhand, police said. The attack, which comes days ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Ranchi, was the fourth one since the Lok Sabha election results on May 23.
According to eyewitnesses, at least 15 bike-borne Naxals attacked the police party while it was patrolling in the vicinity of a weekly-haat known as Khukru haat. The rebels, sources said, stabbed the policemen with knives and took away their guns.
Additional Director General of Police (ADG) Operations, ML Meena said the incident occurred around 6.30 pm on Friday. The rebels, he said, attacked the policemen and escaped with three INSAS rifles and two pistols. There were five policemen and a driver in the patrolling team. While all the policemen in the team were killed in the attack, the driver escaped unscathed, Meena said.
“The rebels escaped on bikes and took away arms from the policemen. They were not in their CPI-Maoist uniforms,” Meena said.
Seraikela-Kharsawan Superintendent of Police Chandan Kumar Sinha said, “Police forces from the Ichargah, Chandil and Nimdih thana area have rushed to the spot. We are trying to find out whether a sixth cop too has been killed.”
According to data with the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), at least 18 of 24 districts in Jharkhand are Left Wing Extremism-affected. In the past one month, at least 20 soldiers have sustained injuries in attacks by the CPI-Maoist in Jharkhand. The State, however, has upped the ante and intensified its combing operations against the rebels lately.
An official said two of the cops martyred were sub-inspectors and the rest three were constables. According to sources, the time the rebels attacked the police party, the venue of the weekly haat was abuzz with people.
“The rebels had first attacked the cops with knives and subsequently killed them after chasing them down in the crowded weekly haat. The attackers fled the scene after firing in the air,” said an eyewitness. Eyewitnesses said that the rebels had fled towards Tamar, which was about 10 km from Khukru.