NEW DELHI/RAIPUR, 18 July 2006 — Twenty-five people were killed and over 150 injured early yesterday morning, when a group of Naxalites attacked Errabore village in Dantewara district of Chhattisgarh. At least 20 people have been taken captive.
“About 800 Naxalites attacked a CRPF (Central Reserve Police Force) post and a state government-run relief camp at Errabore at 1 a.m.,” official sources said. Armed cadres of the banned Communist Party of India (Maoist) stormed the Errabore relief camp, where around 5,000 villagers had taken shelter following threat from the militants.
Naxalites first attacked the CRPF camp, keeping he security forces engaged, and then raided the relief camp. They carried out blasts, fired indiscriminately and set about 50 huts at Errabore relief camp on fire, sources said. Several villagers were burned alive. Naxalites also kidnapped around 20 people, including a woman special police officer from the relief camp, sources said.
“As the villagers ran helter-skelter shocked by the sudden attack, the insurgents started the blood-bath... They stabbed and hacked anyone who came in their way,” a police officer said. The villagers were believed to have been targeted because they were part of an anti-Maoist campaign called Selva Judum (Campaign for Peace). Police estimated that about 2,000 cadre from the Selva Judum had sought shelter in these camps.
Condemning the Naxalite attack, a Home Ministry spokesman in Delhi said: “The Home Ministry condemns the incident and is anguished that innocent people have been targeted. The ministry is in touch with senior officials of the state government and has promised all possible help.” Referring to counteroffensive launched by state machinery and the stand taken by local people against the Naxalites, the official said: “This incident is a sign of their (Naxalites) desperation.”
First aid was given to the injured. Three buses were also arranged to take the severely injured to Konta block headquarters. The security forces are combing the area to trace the kidnapped people, but the authorities say that the Naxalites could have killed them. “We do not rule out the possibility of the abducted people being killed as the Naxalites have earlier resorted to this practice,” Dantewada District Collector K. R. Pisda said. Paramilitary forces also launched combing and search operations in nearby forests to flush out Naxalite cadres, sources said.
The Asian Center for Human Rights (ACHR) condemned the Naxalites’ attack on Errabore relief camp as “barbaric and a crime against humanity.” Since early this year, according to ACHR, around 460 persons, including 90 security personnel, 189 alleged Naxalites and 181 civilians have been killed in nine-Naxalite-affected states.
