क्रान्तीकारी नेपाल

Kolkata, Nov 24th In what is seen as the largest guerrilla attack in
West Bengal, 80 Maoist rebels torched eight vehicles and fired at a
paramilitary camp and at workers’ huts for about two hours so as to
scuttle a road project.

The Maoists, led by a woman, struck early Thursday in their effort to
halt work on the project in their stronghold Belpahari in West Midnapore
district, which borders Jharkhand.

The Maoist squad burnt eight vehicles of the Prime Minister’s Gram Sadak
Yojana road project. The road link, Maoists believe, will give security
forces better access to rebel hideouts, news reports quoting police said
Friday.

‘The guerrillas use a forest corridor to travel to and from Jharkhand.
If good roads are built, security forces can step up vigil,’ said an
official.

Media reports said about 25 women were part of the group that arrived in
the pre-dawn darkness and split into two. One surrounded the India
Reserve Battalion camp at Chhurimara, about 250 km from Kolkata, and the
other advanced to the project labourers’ huts.

The Maoists, who also set on fire three houses, left behind an
explosive, supposedly a landmine, in a mustard field.

‘For two hours they fired at the camp challenging them in Hindi to come
out and fight. Not one among the 70-75 jawans stepped out. Even the
sentries positioned behind sandbags scurried inside,’ said a labourer.

They pasted posters while the paramilitary soldiers challenged by the
rebels stayed inside their camp 300 metres away, reports said.

‘A tall and lean woman with cropped hair was giving orders to her
comrades in Bengali and Hindi,’ a labourer said.

Police suspect that the woman might be Sabita Kumari, who belongs to
Jharkhand and is in her early 20s.

The rebels, dressed in army fatigues, shook the labourers awake and
assembled them on the roadside where barrels of diesel were stored.
‘They ordered us to empty the barrels on the vehicles and set fire to
them.’

The incident is the latest in a series of attacks in the region in the
run-up to a statewide shutdown called by Maoists Dec 14.

On Tuesday, two paramilitary personnel in Belpahari were injured in a
landmine explosion.

On Sep 21, at least two policemen were killed and several others,
including photojournalists and police officers, seriously injured when a
landmine planted by the Maoists exploded in Lalgarh area of West
Midnapore district.