North Bengal tense as KLO kills 6 CPM men

The CPI(M) announced a 12-hour bandh on Monday at the three districts of Jalpaiguri, Coochbehar and Darjeeling in north Bengal in protest ag...

The CPI(M) announced a 12-hour bandh on Monday at the three districts of Jalpaiguri, Coochbehar and Darjeeling in north Bengal in protest against yesterday’s killing of CPI(M) members by suspected Kamtapur Liberation Organisation (KLO) militants.

The militant outfit is demanding a separate state in north Bengal. Six CPI(M) members, including a member of the party Jalpaiguri district committee, were killed and 13 injured when the militants attacked the party local committee office at Dhupguri in Jalpaiguri late yesterday evening.

This is the second major terrorist operation in the state this year after the attack on the American Center in Calcutta on January 22.

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The KLO have always made the CPI(M) its target in this area. In the last two years, 13 party workers had been killed by the militant outfit.

As a result of the attack, measures are being taken to provide security at key party offices including the party state headquarters at Alimuddin Street. ‘‘So far these offices including the Alimuddin one were unguarded. Anybody with mischief in mind could get away after committing a crime. We will have to be more serious about this,’’ an SB official said.

‘‘Out security is the people,’’ CPI(M) state committee secretary Anil Biswas said. ‘‘But if the administration thinks security has to be provided somewhere they can always do that,’’ he added.

Chief Minister Buddhadev Bhattacharya ordered DG (Police) Dinesh Bajpai to visit the place tomorrow. ‘‘Search operations are being conducted there. The administration and police are alert,’’ he said.