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A group of more than 50 Maoist guerrillas ambushed a police patrol in Jharkhand yesterday, killing the district police chief and four others, officials said. |
The rebels opened fire on vehicles carrying police Superintendent Amarjeet Balihar in the Dumka district of the densely forested state home to a large Maoist movement.
“Five policemen including police Superintendent Amarjeet Balihar were killed in the Maoist attack,” Rajeev Kumar, the director general of police, said in the state capital Ranchi.
“Two persons are seriously injured,” he added.
More than 50 Maoists were involved in the attack on the police convoy which was returning from a security meeting nearby.
It was Balihar’s first posting as superintendent. He had taken charge in May. According to police sources, Balihar is survived by his wife, two sons and a daughter.
According to Kumar, the deputy inspector general of police had called a meeting of senior officers in Dumka, around 350km from Ranchi.
“Balihar was ambushed when he was returning to his office,” Kumar said.
The attack took place in a jungle stretch between Kathikund and Gopikanar in Dumka as Balihar’s convoy passed.
Kumar rushed to Dumka by helicopter to take stock of the situation. Two companies of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) have been sent to the area.
Police said a massive combing operation had been launched in an attempt to catch the Maoists.
Jharkhand Governor Syed Ahmad and political parties condemned the attack and expressed their condolences to the affected families.
Police officials say Maoists in Jharkhand are frustrated as they have been booted out of the Saranda forest area and eight of them were killed in Latehar district last week.
This is not the first time such a high-ranking official has been killed by the insurgents.
In 2000, just before Jharkhand was carved out of Bihar, Lohardagga’s Superintendent of Police Ajay Kumar was killed by Maoists.
Last month about 100 of the leftwing guerrillas opened fire on a passenger train in the adjacent state of Bihar, killing one police officer and two passengers.
In May they killed 24 people including the top local leaders of the Congress Party during an ambush in the central state of Chhattisgarh.
The revolutionaries, described by the government as the country’s most serious internal security threat, have waged a decades-long battle across central and eastern states to overthrow local and national authorities.
The rebels say they are fighting for the rights of the poor and landless farmers in India.