, Suspected Maoists killed two policemen by triggering a landmine blast and shot dead a businessman today in separate attacks, near Lalgarh in West Midnapore district.
In the first offensive, the ultras triggered a landmine blast when some members of joint security forces were walking from Pirakata police camp to a jungle near Burisole for an operation, police said.
The Maoists also fired at the patrolling party just after the explosion, following which the forces retaliated.
“Two securitymen, Alok Mondal and Srimanta Banerjee, of the Indian Reserve Battalion (IRB) were fatally injured in the landmine explosion. The duo was rushed to Midnapore Medical College and Hospital where they were declared brought dead,” West Midnapore SP Manoj Kumar Verma said.
The condition of three others was serious, he said. Local police put the number of injured to eight.
In the second attack, a businessman was shot dead by suspected naxalites near Pirakata tonight, police said.
The body of Byomkesh Giri was lying at the spot, on Lalgarh-Bhadutala Road, with some wired object fitted with his body, police said. Asked if Maoists were behind the two incidents, a top police officer said “apparently it seems so.”
The attacks followed the gunning down of the member of a CPI(M)-controlled teacher’s organisation at Sirkabad in neighbouring Purulia district yesterday by suspected Maoists.
