RAIPUR: Heavily-armed Maoist rebels yesterday killed 17 people, including 12 local Congress leaders, after ambushing a convoy in a remote tribal belt of central India, a top police officer said. “We can confirm 17 deaths. Among those who have been killed are five policemen. The rest are all leaders of the state Congress unit,” Rajinder Kumar Vij, the chief of anti-naxal operations of Chhattisgrah state, said.
Heavily-armed Maoist rebels on Saturday killed a local Congress leader and kidnapped at least four others after ambushing their convoy in a remote tribal belt of central India, police said.
“The Maoists targeted the convoy returning from a political rally. They started firing indiscriminately and killed state Congress leader Gopi Wadhwani,” police director general Ram Niwas said. The guerillas have abducted at least four other party leaders including Chhatisgarh state Congress chief Nand Kumar Patel along with his son, Niwas added.
Veteran Congress leader and former cabinet minister Vidya Charan Shukla was also “critically injured” in the attack, carried out in a thickly forested area of Jagdalpur district, 284km from state capital Raipur.
The attack is the latest in a simmering conflict that pits the insurgents against local and national authorities in the forests and rural areas of mainly central and eastern India. The guerrillas, who say they are fighting for the rights of tribal people and landless farmers, often collect funds through extortion and protection rackets. AFP
