Three weeks after tribals in the Maoist hotbed of Swabhiman Anchala in Odisha’s Malkangiri district lynched a rebel to death and injured another, they have hit back blowing up a portion of the newly-constructed road in the area.
The blast was triggered on Saturday about five hours after special advisor to the Union ministry of home affairs on left-wing extremism, K Vijay Kumar, visited Swabhiman Anchala to take stock of the anti-Maoist operations.
Police officials in Malkangiri district said the Maoists triggered a small blast on the road connecting Bicharapakhna and Hantalaguda around 5pm on Saturday using a remote-controlled device.
“However, no one was injured in the blast,” said Malkangiri’s superintendent of police Khilari Rishikesh Dnyandeo.
The blast came weeks after Koya tribal villagers of Janturai village under Jodambo gram panchayat in the Swabhiman Anchala had killed a Maoist and injured another when more than 25 rebels swooped down on their village opposing the construction of a road in this stronghold of the left-wing rebels.
The villagers had pelted stones and fired arrows at the rebels killing Ganga Madi alias Adma, a party member of Gumma area committee, and injured Jipro Habika, member of Nandapur area committee late on January 25.
Habika was later handed over to police by villagers.
In retaliation, Maoists burnt down about a dozen houses in Jodambo village of Swabhiman Anchala and looted the belongings of local people.
Soon after the incident, security forces in Malkangiri conducted the largest-ever seizure of arms and ammunitions of Maoists recovering at least eight automatic weapons, including three carbine Sten guns and hundreds of rounds of bullets from an arms dump.
Among the recovered weapons included INSAS Light Machine Gun, INSAS rifles, carbine Sten guns, SLR rifle, .303 rifle, pistol, 200 rounds of 5.56 mm bullets, 59 rounds of 7.62 bullet, 42 rounds of 9 mm bullet, 18 LMG, INSAS and Carbine Magazines, VHF set and five bundles of Codex wire.
The seizure was important as for the first time a light machine gun was recovered from a Maoist dump.
With police making inroads into Swabhiman Anchala, a new police station in Jodambo gram panchayat would come up soon.
