Cop Shot Dead in West Midnapore; Three Killed, Six Injured in Jharkhand

A policeman was killed when a group of nearly 100 armed Naxals attacked a police station in West Midnapore district. In another incidence in Jharkhand, three persons, one of them head of Maoist organization, were killed and six others severely injured when rebels attacked attacked at Rajpur in the district in the wee hours on Tuesday.

According to police, the heavily armed Maoists attacked the Sankrail police station in Jhargram subdivision of West Bengal and shot dead the station’s second officer. In addition, naxals raided a bank abutting to the police station.

As per a TV channel report, rebels held the officer in charge of the police station hostage, but there is no confirmation.

Earlier, in Jharkhand, three persons were killed and six others critically injured in a Maoist attack at Rajpur in the district in the wee hours on Tuesday.

District Superintendent of Police Deo Bihari Sharma said that three persons killed were identified as Umesh Mali, head of a naxal outfit ‘Sastra People’s Morcha’ (SPM), Umesh Singh Bhokta, a local leader of Lokjanshakti Party and Ranjit Rajjak. They were watching a cultural programme near Rajpur Middle School around 2 am, when a group of armed Maoists opened fire on them.

The condition of all the injured, including a police driver, is stated to be critical, he said.

The CPI (Maoist) is involved in a turf war with SPM, the Jharkhand Prastuti Samiti and the Tritiya Prastuti Samiti.