HYDERABAD, 5 October 2003 — Banned leftist guerrillas have claimed responsibility for an assassination attempt on the leader of the southern state of Andhra Pradesh and said more attacks would come.
In a four-page statement released late Friday, the People’s War Group (PWG) said its bid to kill Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu was meant to avenge a series of gunbattles it said were staged by state authorities. “This (attack) is retaliation by the People’s Guerrilla Army against the fascist government of Chandrababu Naidu,” it said.
“This government has till date eliminated more than 1,400 PWG cadres in fake encounters,” it said. The statement warned that attacks on public representatives and police would continue and the list included five to six VVIPs, including Chhatisgarh Chief Minister Ajit Jogi.
Naidu had a narrow escape on Wednesday when mines exploded beneath his bullet-proof Ambassador car on a forest road between Hindu temples at Tirupati and Tirumala.
Four others in the motorcade injured in the blast were in serious condition.
Late Friday, the state government suspended two police officials and transferred an equal number for the breach in Naidu’s high-security detail. Police officials had already suspected the PWG in the attack.
Indian Deputy Prime Minister Lal Krishna Advani, visiting Naidu on Friday, vowed to deal with Maoist rebels “firmly” while addressing the economic concerns that bring them support.
Naidu’s government had opened negotiations with Maoist rebels in June last year to end a three-decade insurgency in which about 10,000 people have died. However, a Maoist attack during peace talks on a police bus in Andhra Pradesh derailed the move.
