Maoists attack police station

Statesman News Service
Patna, Jan. 2: Stung by the daylight Maoist attack on a police team in Munger on New Year’s day yesterday, killing four retired Army jawans absorbed in police jobs on contracts, and looting their weapons, the police have launched a massive combing operation in east Bihar districts.
The absconding Naxalites turned merrymaking into mourning for the state government. Last year, Bihar witnessed about 200 incidents of Naxalite violence, indicating how the state police machinery was proving to be pigmy before the Maoists guerrillas. Sources said a huge police force has been engaged in the combing operation and recover weapons looted from the police. Reports said senior police officers are monitoring the combing operations in Munger and its neighbouring areas where, the police believe, the Naxalites may have taken shelter after committing the crime.
Witnesses said the Maoists, with the local revellers were celebrating the arrival of the New Year at Rishikund, a popular picnic spot in Munger surrounded by hills, when a police team in a jeep reached the spot to monitor law and order. On seeing the police jeep, the extremists, said to be more than 200 in number, resorted to indiscriminate firing, killing four retired jawans on the spot. The local station house officer saved his life reportedly by hiding in a bush nearby.
The Nitish Kumar-led government here has appointed more than 5,000 retired Army jawans on contract to tighten law and order. The government’s efforts have so far failed to bear any results, going by the number of Naxalite incidents reported in the last year. An official report said 39 people were killed in 175 Maoist-related incidents reported from 29 of the 38 districts of Bihar last year. Of the 39 killed, 22 were policemen, indicating how they have become soft targets.