M A I N   N E W S

400 Maoists attack four CRPF camps in Dantewada

Raipur, April 20
The specter of Dantewada massacre came back to haunt the CRPF, when Maoists tonight opened fire on four separate CRPF camps in quick succession in Dantewada district, triggering gunbattles. However, there was no immediate report of casualties.

About 300 to 400 Naxalites carried out the attacks on the camps, where the paramilitary personnel and policemen were resting, at Chintangufa, where 75 CRPF men and a policeman were killed in the worst-ever Maoist strike two weeks ago, Kanker Lanka, Potampalli and Bheji around 7.30 pm, sources said.

The CRPF and the policemen retaliated, sparking intermittent gunbattles with the Maoists, which lasted till 9.30 pm, said SP, Dantewada, Amaresh Mishra adding there was no report of casualty in the standoff.

“The firing by the Maoists could have been to facilitate the escape of the ultras to adjacent Orissa,” Mishra said. Chhattisgarh Additional Director General of Police Ram Niwas told PTI that the ultras fired from a distance, which was responded to by the CRPF and the police. However, there was no casualty, he said.

Sources said all CRPF and police camps in the area had been put on high alert after the incident. The incidents tonight came two weeks after the Maoists carried out the worst-ever attack at Chitangufa on April 6, killing 75 CRPF men and a policeman. — PTI