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Naxals kill seven policemen in AP

Syed Amin Jafri in Hyderabad

Naxalites of the outlawed People's War killed seven policemen and injured eight others in north coastal Andhra Pradesh late on Friday night.

Additional Director-General of Police M A Basith said the Naxalites mounted the attack on Darakonda armed police outpost near Sileru in the dense Chintapally forests, about 600 kms north-east of Hyderabad, at around 7.50 pm on Friday.

They hurled petrol bombs, soap bombs and smoke bombs at the police outpost and blasting the perimeter of the outpost with explosives. They later opened fire on the policemen.

The attack took place in the darkness since there was a power cut on in the area. The exchange of fire continued till 9 pm.

About 20 Andhra Pradesh Special Police personnel of the fifth battalion were present at the police outpost when the attack occurred. The Naxalite squads allegedly involved were those from Korukonda, Nagulakonda and Tandava.

The seven policemen -- an armed reserve sub-inspector, two head constables and four police constables -- were killed on the spot. Eight other policemen were seriously injured in the attack. One extremist, identified as a deputy commander of the Korukonda squad, was also killed.

The fleeing Naxalites put up blocks on the road leading to the area, preventing others from reaching the site of the incident soon. The injured policemen were first taken to the government hospital at Paderu and later shifted by helicopter to the Seven Hills hospital in Visakhapatnam on Saturday morning.

The Naxalites robbed a huge cache of arms and ammunition from the outpost, including 22 self-loading rifles, three carbines, one pistol, one grenade-firing rifle and one AK-47 assault rifle.

The police later launched combing operations to nab the extremists.

State Home Minister T Devender Goud, top police officials, Tribal Welfare Minister M Mani Kumari and Visakhapatnam district officials rushed to Chintapalli after they heard of the incident.

Union Minister of State for Home Ch Vidyasagar Rao on Saturday strongly condemned the Naxalite attack and said that the government of India would extend all assistance, including financial aid, to the five Naxalite-affected states -- Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar and Orissa -- to tackle the menace.

He said a high-level co-ordination committee, comprising top police officials of the five affected states and the Union home ministry, has been formed to co-ordinate the strategies of the affected states. The ministry has also set up an exclusive cell to monitor left-wing extremist violence.

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