Jharkhand: Naxal attacks kill 20 policemen in three days

The Maoists blew up an anti-landmine vehicle at Sarubeda between Nawadih and Bermo in Bokaro,over 150 km from Ranchi,killing eight Special Auxiliary Force personnel and wounding five other policemen and an eight-year-old girl.

In Phusro in Bokaro district,over 100 armed Maoists,many of them women,attempted to loot a branch of the State Bank of India around 2 pm. But two policemen deployed there foiled the bid. “They resisted and did not let them get inside the bank,” said Ranji Kumar,an SBI staffer. “Before fleeing,the Maoists overpowered both policemen,took their rifles and stabbed them to death.”

The policemen killed in the landmine blast were headed for the same SBI branch. “As part of reinforcement,the forces were going to the same SBI branch in an anti-landmine vehicle.The moment they drove over a culvert,the Maoists triggered the blast,killing the policemen and destroying the vehicle,” said SP Laxman Prasad.