Jharkhand’s Left wing extremists, who have joined hands with cadres of the CPI (Maoist) of Chhattisgarh and Andhra Pradesh, struck in a big way last night when over 150 of them raided a village in Giridih and killed 15 people who had formed a village defence committee to resist the Naxals.Six others were injured in the incident at Belwaghati, a remote village on Jharkhand’s border with Bihar’s Jamui district where people live in extreme poverty.Those killed, including a 7-year-old and a 70-year-old, had either been shot or had their throats slit. Eleven of the dead were Muslims while the rest belonged to Scheduled Castes.Around 8 pm last night, heavily armed Naxals came raiding, torched huts and lined up the villagers. They called out names and then executed them, eyewitnesses recalled. ‘‘People were killed because they had rejected Naxals.’’Giridih SP Bhageshwar Jha said the Naxals targeted those who had formed a Gram Raksha Dal. ‘‘Calling them police informers and traitors, they eliminated them,’’ Jha said.Chief Minister Arjun Munda, accompanied by Babulal Marandi who represents Giridih in Lok Sabha, rushed to the massacre site.
