By IANS,
Raipur: Maoist insurgents Saturday killed three people, including two special police officers, in Chhattisgarh’s violence-hit Bastar region, police said.
The incident took place at a forested hamlet near Pharsegarh in Bijapur district, 500 km south of here.
The rebels opened fire on workers engaged in constructing a road and the police team that was escorting them.
“Armed Maoists carried out attacks on labourers and security men engaged in road construction work. One labourer and two special police officers (SPOs) were killed,” Deputy Inspector General of Police Pawan Deo told IANS.
The victims were identified as Kamta Das, 22, a driver and SPOs Kursam Lakhmu, 23, and Marawai Harma, 28.
Deo added that two other SPOs injured in the gun battle were airlifted to district headquarters Jagdalpur for treatment.
Police sources said rebels also set ablaze four vehicles engaged for the construction work.
On May 6, the rebels had killed 11 people, including seven security personnel, in Bastar region and stabbed to death a police station in-charge in full public view in the same region a day later.
The rebels May 5 shot dead a senior leader of the state’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party in Rajnandgaon district.
Police officials say about 1,500 people have been killed in Maoist violence in the state since November 2000, when Chhattisgarh came into being after being carved out of Madhya Pradesh.