Maoists kill three, as shutdown hits Chhattisgarh

RAIPUR - Three civilians were killed by the Maoists Thursday in Chhattisgarh’s Narayanpur district as a shutdown called by the Left wing rebels hit life in the state’s interior parts.

“Maoists shot dead three civilians branding them as police informers. Their bodies were recovered from a forested hamlet in Narayanpur district,” state police chief Vishwa Ranjan told IANS.

He said that four Maoists wanted for murder of civilians were arrested in Rajnandgaon district.

Normal life was hit in the forested interiors of Chhattisgarh on the second day of the shutdown called by the outlawed Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist) in five states.

Security has been tightened in Maoist-affected areas, mainly in the state’s Bastar region which is made up of five districts - Narayanpur, Kanker, Bastar, Bijapur and Dantewada.

“Buses are off the roads as transporters fear attacks by Maoists. So far, no report of violence has been received from anywhere in the Bastar region,” Inspector General of Police T.J. Longkumer told reporters at Jagdalpur, divisional headquarters of the Bastar

Besides blocking roads in the interior areas, rebels have also blocked state and national highways in Bijapur and Dantewada districts, officials at the police headquarters in Raipur told IANS.

According to officials, there is always a shutdown-like situation in the forested remote areas of 40,000 sq km Bastar region.

The shutdown that began Wednesday covers Jharkhand, Bihar, Orissa, Chhattisgarh and West Bengal. It was called a day after Maoists killed 27 security men in an ambush in Narayanpur district.