Toll in Maoist attack in Chhattisgarh is 11
by Ajay Sharma

    Bailadeela (Chhattisgarh): About 200-300 Maoist rebels stormed a state-run explosives store in Chhattisgarh, killing eight members of the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) 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 in Bailadeela in Dantewada district located on a hill 450 km south of Raipur.

   The Maoists, armed with automatic weapons and rifles, managed to enter the store after a firefight with members of the CISF based there to protect it. There were no reports of Maoist casualties. M.W. Ansari, Inspector General Bastar, 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. "These are miscreants though required force has been deployed at the depot. But as they were more than 300 in numbers and it looks to be a planned attack the miscreants outnumbered the police personnel," said Ansari.

    In two other 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. O.P. Rathore, Director General of Police, Chhattisgarh, said a large number of Naxals who had sneaked into their region seem to be responsible for the attack. "We are assessing the situation. We have reports, that in past few days, a large number of hardcore Naxals from neighbouring Andhra Pradesh have infiltrated into the region. We are carrying out combing and whatever is required will be done," said Rathore.

   The latest raid by Maoist rebels, who claim to fight for 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 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.

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