Second Red strike in 4 days; 12 killed

Striking for the second time in four days, Maoists killed 12 people and injured an equal number in a raid on a village in Bihar’s Jamui district shortly after Wednesday midnight.

They left behind leaflets claiming it was a retaliatory attack on Phulwaria-Korasi, a village of Kora tribals 210 km southeast of Patna, for harbouring informers who helped the police allegedly kill eight Maoists, missing since January 31.

Four members of a family were burnt to death inside a hut while the others were shot.

“There were about 150 of them, most of them in police uniform,” said one villager, refusing to be identified. “They fired indiscriminately from three sides as soon as they arrived.”

There was a police picket in the village but the policemen simply fled, villagers alleged.

In the morning, the villagers refused to let the bodies be taken for post-mortem, unless Chief Minister Nitish Kumar visited them, but later relented.

On Monday, Maoists had attacked a police camp in West Bengal, killing 24 policemen.