Naxals blow up block office in Malkangiri

Armed Naxals blew up the block office building at Padia in south Odisha's Malkangiri district in a pre-dawn attack on Wednesday.

Similarly, in a gun battle with the ultras the security forces busted a camp of the Red rebels in Kandhamal district. Around 50 Red rebels stormed into Padia and destroyed the block office by blasting of landmines. The Naxals had set afire the building before triggering the powerful landmine, causing extensive damage to the structure, police said.

The blast has also destroyed volumes of documents and important records related to developmental work and personal files of employees.

None were injured in the blast, said Akhilesh Singh, superintendent of police, Malkangiri.

In a handwritten poster left at the spot, the Naxals claimed the attack was in protest against the alleged atrocities of police and security forces on common people as well as continuing anti-insurgency operations in the area.

The attack was also to retaliate the police encounter in September in which 13 ultras were killed, the note said.On March 25 2009, the Naxals had destroyed a police outpost, a government building and a BSNL tower at Padia. They had used a bulldozer to destroy the building of the police outpost at Padia.

Of late, the Naxals have stepped up violent activities such as kidnappings, killing of civilians and torching of passenger buses in Malkangiri that borders Andhra Pradesh and Chhattisgarh.

A group of over 100 armed Naxals from Chhattisgarh are believed to have infiltrated into Malkangiri district during the past few weeks.

Meanwhile, the security forces claimed to have busted a camp of the outlawed extremists in a jungle in Kandhamal district in an exchange of fire and seized several arms and ammunition from the spot.At least two rifles, a hand grenade, two landmines weighing 10-15 kg, 13 detonators, 30 meters of wire and battery charger were recovered from the demolished camp at the Indragada jungle under Raikia police station limits.

"Several quantities of ration items, four pairs of Naxal uniforms, at least eight condoms and some other items were also recovered from the spot. The Red rebels fled from the spot after the gun battle that continued for some hours", said Kandhamal superintendent of police K V Singh.