Indian forces hunt for rebels after attack kills 28

New Delhi - Indian troops launched a search for Maoist rebels in the eastern state of West Bengal Tuesday after 28 people were killed in an attack on a paramilitary camp, officials and reports said. A group of nearly 100 armed rebels, many riding motorcycles, attacked the facility in the West Midnapore district's Sheeldah area on Monday evening in the Maoist's biggest attack this year.

Late Monday, 20 troopers were confirmed to have been killed in the attack. Officials said Tuesday bodies of four more troopers had been found, bringing the paramilitary death toll to 24.

"Most victims belonged to the Eastern Frontier Rifles. The bodies were removed from the camp in the morning," district official NS Nigam told reporters.

Seven injured troopers were being treated at a hospital in Sheeldah, around 150 kilometres south-west of state capital Kolkata.

Senior police officer Bhupinder Singh told the PTI news agency that three Maoists were killed as soldiers returned fire. An unidentified civilian was also killed in the attack, he added.

According to officials, the Maoists caught the troops unawares when they overran the camp, opening fire and lobbing hand-grenades.

Some troopers who were resting in their tents were burnt alive as the militants set the camp ablaze.

The situation was tense in the Sheeldah area Tuesday as markets near the camp remained closed and joint forces took over the area.

Official sources told the IANS news agency that additional federal forces reached the scene Monday night and cordoned the entire region.

"The search operation is now being carried out by the bomb squad using anti-landmine vehicles. We are also carrying out heavy patrolling in and around the area," a police officer told the IANS.

Home Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram condemned the assault calling it an "outrageous attempt to overawe established authority in the state."

Meanwhile, Maoist leader Koteswara Rao - also known as Kishenji - claimed responsibility for the attack saying it was their reply to the government's offensive against the rebels.

"We have attacked the camp and this is our answer to Chidambaram's 'Operation Green Hunt' and unless the government stops this inhuman military operation we are going to answer this way only," Kishenji told the PTI from an undisclosed location.

The Maoists, who are fighting to establish a communist state, are active in 20 of India's 28 states, government officials said.

According to government data, more than 1,100 people were killed in violence linked to the insurgency in 2009. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has called the left-wing rebellion the gravest threat to India's internal security.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/309467,indian-forces-hunt-for-rebels-after-attack-kills-28.html.