Indian Maoists 'kill and dismember' 10 policemen

bbc.co.uk ^ | May 24, 2011

[Tailgunner Joe]

Ten policemen, including one senior officer, have been killed and dismembered by Maoist rebels in India's Chhattisgarh state, police say.

The attack reportedly took place in the densely-forested Gariyaband area on the state's border with Orissa.

The bodies of nine policemen were found on Tuesday. Officials say they were shot and then hacked into pieces.

Maoist rebels say they are fighting for the rights of indigenous tribal people and the rural poor.

They are active in several eastern and central states. In one of the most deadly attacks last year, rebels killed 74 policemen in Chhattisgarh's Dantewada district.

India's prime minister has described the Maoist insurgency as the country's biggest internal security challenge.

The team left for a routine patrol on Monday morning and police said they lost contact in the afternoon. After their bodies were discovered on Tuesday, officials said the policemen were first shot and then their bodies were hacked into pieces "by sharp-edged weapons", the BBC's Salman Ravi from Raipur reports.

Correspondents say that certain groups of Maoists have been known to dismember the bodies of their victims.

[Tailgunner Joe]

The policemen from Raipur, the capital of the neighbouring state of Chhattisgarh, had gone on an anti-Maoist sweep through a remote and forested area near the border with Orissa before coming under attack.

"Police have recovered the bodies of nine security personnel from the gunbattle site and all have been mutilated by the Maoists," a spokesman for Chhattisgarh police, Rajesh Mishra, told AFP.

"The Maoists have done this to create terror among the forces," he added.

A search party has been sent out to try to find a 10th member of the team whose whereabouts are unknown, he said.

Raipur police chief Mukesh Gupta and other police sources told AFP that the victims were ambushed when they were returning from their mission in a tractor after their police jeep had broken down in the forest.

The attack took place 40 kilometres (25 miles) inside Orissa in Nuapada district, about 175 kilometres from Raipur.

[SaraJohnson]

The commies are not satisfied with just murdering people anymore? They want to dismember their bodies, too? I always wondered why the Western Left was teaming up with Islam. More blood.

[Mister Da]

I'm waiting to hear that rabid animals such as these start to EAT their victims. That seems the next logical progression of terrorism. Mere dismemberment is getting a little blasé.

[Sequoyah101]

I thought it said MOTORISTS... and wondered when it would be coming to a freeway nearby.

[ully2]

There, that will show them!

[ully2]

There, that will show them!

[cartan]

Mao…when Stalin just isn’t wacky enough for you!

[Rebelbase]

Time for some Indian Army Gurkhas to pay a visit to the area.

[trapped_in_LA]

Amazing that this could be going on in any modern nation state. I wonder where they are getting their support from, China? Someone has to be smuggling in arms and training them, you don’t take out 70+ armed police without it.

[SaraJohnson]

I am glad road rage has not “progressed” to beheadings...yet! Give the Zetas some more time to cross the border and set up shop!

[MARTIAL MONK]

A search party has been sent out to try to find a 10th member of the team whose whereabouts are unknown,

He's over there...and there...and there...and there...

[vpintheak]

Leftists are as peaceful as islamists.