By TwoCircles.net Staff Reporter,
Thiruvananthapuram: Suspected Maoists attacked offices of forest department at Attappady in Palakkad district and Vellamunda in Waynad district inthe wee hours Monday.
Besides, one outlet each of multinational KFC and McDonalds on the Palakkad-Coimbatore national highway were also attacked, police said.
The McDonalds outlet on the Palakkad-Coimbatore NH on Monday allegedly attacked by suspected Maoists (Photo Credit: The Hindu)
No casualty was reported in any of the incidents, police added. The government, however, officially refuted any Maoist linkage with the attack.
According to police sources, bill boards and posters, allegedly by Maoists, were found at both the places. The posters were anti-American and called for armed revolution.
A forest range office at Mukkala in the Attapady region of Palakkad district, one of the main tribal hamlets in the state, was attacked and some of the furniture in the office damaged too. According to sources, a group of 19 people stormed into the building, which houses the ‘Silent Valley’ office at around 1.30 am and set afire a jeep of the forest officials parked outside the complex. Furniture and other documents inside the office were destroyed.
In the second incident, office of ‘Vana Samrakshana Samithi’ was vandalized by the outlawed activists at Kunhom at Vellamunda forest area in Waynad district.
It is significant that the attacks came a few weeks after an exchange of fire between police and Maoists at Vellamunda. Security has been tightened in all the areas, police said. Wayanad has been a hotbed of Naxalite activities during the late 1960s and early 1970s.
An alert has been sounded at all check posts in Nilgiris district following the suspected Maoist attacks. In Wayanad, a batch of Thunderbolt force was stationed just around 300 metres away from the spot. Locals said the assailants had guns and other weapons. Security has been stepped up in the area, police said.
Similarly, security has been tightened in Gudalur, Pandalur, Naduigani, Soladi and Pattavayal, the entry points from Kerala and also Karnataka; and strict vigil is being kept to prevent the possible infiltration of the ultras, police added. Armed guards have also been posted at all police stations along the border to meet any eventuality as the extremists are in the habit of looting arms and ammunition during attack.
By afternoon, the Palakkad police had taken into their custody two persons in connection with the attacks on the McDonalds and KFC outlets.
Meanwhile, addressing the media persons here at the state capital, Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala refuted the possibility of the Maoist linkage behind the attack.