Maoists attack resort in Kerala, write slogans against Barack Obama visit

TIRUNELLI(KERALA): Suspected Maoists attacked a state-run tourist resort in Wayanad in north Kerala today and escaped into forests after vandalising the premises and writing slogans against US President Barack Obama's visit to the country.

The six-member group carrying fire arms and wearing masks barged into the Kerala Tourism Development Corporation's resort located in the forests and damaged computer and glass panes at the reception in the wee hours, District Police Superintendent P Vimaladitya said.

They also wrote slogans against Obama on the walls of the resort, he said.

As per the information provided by the security guard at the resort, the gang entered the building around 3 AM, shouted slogans condemning the policies of the Central and State governments, littered the premises with Maoists literature before vandalising the reception and fleeing into the forests.

They had raised slogans condemning the government policy of promoting tourism "trampling" over the rights of tribals and marginalised sections over traditional means of livelyhood.

The gang, however, did not harm two groups of tourists who were staying in the resort, Vimaladitya said.

The posters and Maoist literature thrown around the premises carried the name of CPI(Maoists) Western Ghats Regional Committee.

Police have launched a search for the group who had ran into deep forests of the area located on Kerala-Karnataka borders.

This was the latest in a series of attacks carried out by suspected Maoists in different parts of Kerala since last year, especially on the slopes of the Western Ghats.

Earlier this month, a group attacked a private stone-crusher unit in Kannur district.

These attacks came at a time when the Kerala government had stepped up security following intelligence reports that Moists had sneaked into forest-fringe tribal settlements in the hill areas of Kerala, close to Karnataka and Tamil Nadu borders.