Munger: Maoists masquerading as CRPF personnel shot dead six villagers while 11 other persons went missing after an encounter at a village in Bihar’s Munger district.
The Maoists, armed with AK-47 rifles and other sophisticated weapons stormed Kareili village — about 200 km from Patna — at around 5 am and opened fire at the villagers, killing six of them, Director General of Police Neelmani told reporters.
While around 18 to 20 Maoists arrived in two jeeps, another 25 came on foot from the forest, he said. The rebels came looking for a former Maoist, whose wife had successfully contested the elections to the post of village chief, Neelmani said.
“There was firing on the house of the former Maoist, Ashok Korha, but since the villagers were not fully prepared at the time they could not retaliate effectively,” he said.
In the ensuing exchange of fire between the Maoists and villagers, some of whom had licensed arms, two special police officers Shivan Rai and Sunil Rai were killed.
The other villagers killed in the encounter were Narayan Rai, Ramdeo Rai, Congress Rai and Naresh Rai.
In reply to a question, he said eleven villagers — six adults and five children had gone missing after the firing.
A BSF helicopter was requisitioned from Jharkhand to assist in locating the missing persons, Neelmani said. A combing operation was underway by a combined team of security forces under the supervision of Deputy Inspector General of Police (Munger Range) KK Yadav and Superintendent of Police P Kanan, the DGP said. (PTI)