20 sandalwood smugglers killed in Andhra Pradesh

BHUBANESWAR: Indian police shot dead 20 stone-throwing sandalwood smugglers on Tuesday during the biggest operation for years to stamp out trafficking of the rare commodity, law-enforcement authorities said.
Opposition politicians and human rights activists challenged the report, maintaining that those killed in the incident in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh were only unarmed laborers and calling for an investigation.
Andhra Pradesh Police Chief J.V. Ramudu told reporters that a dozen-strong police task force had come under a hail of stones launched by around 100 stone-throwing smugglers who were also brandishing axes, sickles and other sharp-edged weapons.
Police were forced to fire back in self-defense, he said.
Ramudu said nine smugglers were killed in the Chitoor district and 11 in a second clash a kilometer (half a mile) away. All 20 were from the adjacent state of Tamil Nadu.
Human Rights Forum, a regional advocacy group, said the protesters were only unarmed laborers and demanded an investigation. “We think it was a fake encounter. Police liquidated them in cold blood and then concocted the story of an exchange of fire,” forum general secretary V.S. Krishna said.
Andhra Pradesh is home to stocks of red sandalwood, whose felling, transport and sale is prohibited in India but which is highly prized for furniture in China and Japan.