Maoists kill four policemen in Chhattisgarh
Dated 13/12/2006
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Four policemen were shot dead when about 250 Maoist rebels made an abortive bid to attack a refugee camp in Chhattisgarh early on Wednesday, police said.
The clash took place just outside a camp housing 1,000 tribal refugees in a forested village of the Dantewada district of impoverished Chhattisgarh, 480 km south of Raipur.
The dead included a police constable and three special police officers (SPOs), locals who have been recruited to act as informers and assistants for the police in their battle against the rebels.
Senior police officer R.K. Vij told Reuters the Maoists tried to storm the camp but were turned back by police. The rebels fled after reinforcements reached the area.
Dantewada has become the epicentre of Maoist violence in India since the state government helped set up an anti-Maoist movement called Salwa Judum (Campaign for Peace) in the remote district last June.
Around 50,000 tribespeople from 600 villages in the district have been settled in camps run by the Salwa Judum.
Human rights groups accuse the government of putting civilians in the line of fire by sponsoring the movement, and say Salwa Judum is intimidating people to join their cause. They also accuse the Maoists of killing innocent civilians.
Chhattisgarh is the worst-hit of 13 Indian states affected by the Maoist violence. The rebels claim to be fighting for millions of India's poor peasants and landless labourers.
Police say about 400 people, including 321 civilians, have been killed in Maoist violence in the state this year.