Schoolkids caught in Maoist-ITBP crossfire, 2 among 7 killed

RAIPUR/NAGPUR: Seven people, including two schoolchildren and three Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) personnel, were killed on Friday in two encounters with Maoists in the forests along the Maharashtra-Chhattisgarh border.

Twelve children were critically wounded in the crossfire, five of whom were brought to Nagpur for treatment.
In the morning, a jeep carrying ITBP personnel was blown up by the Maoists on the Maharashtra-Chhattisgarh border, killing three jawans instantly. These were the first casualties suffered by the ITBP. A few hours later, as ITBP personnel retaliated against the Maoists, schoolchildren were caught in the crossfire.

According to intelligence sources, the incident took place at 11.30am during a fierce gunbattle between a company of ITBP and Naxals in the jungle of Sawargaon, around 3km from the Maharashtra-Chhattisgarh border.

Patrolling along the border on either side is common for security forces. The patrolling company of ITBP, which had started from Kohke village in the adjoining Rajnandgaon district in Chhattisgarh, was on its way back after cutting through a dense jungle patch in sensitive Sawargaon, which is in Gadchiroli.

The Maoists, who had laid a mine near the bridge that connects the two states, triggered the blast as the ITBP company approached it. ``The ITBP camp at Kohka is a stone's throw from Maharashtra. But the site of the blast was at least half a kilometre from the Chhattisgarh border inside Maharashtra,'' said Vishwa Ranjan, the DGP, Chhattisgarh.

"It was a powerful explosion, which left a crater eight feet deep and 10 feet wide," said IG R K Vij. The ITBP personnel were travelling in a convoy of two vehicles. The second vehicle was hit in the blast. The skirmish then shifted to the outskirts of the Sawargaon village on the Gadchiroli side, coming perilously close to a tribal hamlet. One of the hand grenades hurled -- TOI couldn't confirm which side threw it -- landed in the ashramshala premises, a local source said. ``It killed four people on the spot and left a few injured,'' he added. The gunbattle did not last long after this. No Naxal deaths were reported.

The victims were rushed to the rural primary health centres in Murumgaon. The dead have been identified as class I student Sunil Halami (7), class VI student Manglushai Hidko (11), DG Gawande, the cook of the ashramshala, and Manglarama Madavi, a villager.

Sources said that the five seriously injured -- Rameshwari Netam (12), Mukesh Potavi (7), Sarju Potavi (11), Kuber Singh Tekam (11) and Suhsila Hedao (12) -- were first brought to Gadchiroli district hospital and later shifted to Nagpur.

Several senior officials of the district collectorate, including deputy collector Rajendra Kanfade and officials from district disaster management cell, were present at the Gadchiroli hospital.

This is the third incident involving Naxals in Gadchiroli district which had been quiet for a few months now. On Monday, Naxals had gunned down four security personnel (a CRPF inspector, a constable and two police sub-inspectors) and a villager in Perimili in Aheri taluka. The next day, the action shifted to Mirkal village, 12km from Perimili, where eight C60 commandos were injured when their anti-mine vehicle was blown by a Naxal landmine.

ITBP, or the Indo-Tibetan Border police, was deployed in Rajnandgaon district towards the end of 2009.