VISAKHAPATNAM, FEBRUARY 19: In A daring act, about 40 Naxalites of the outlawed People's War Group (PWG) attacked and killed seven policemen and injured nine at an armed outpost at Darakonda, between G K Veedhi and Sileru, in the district late Friday night. One Naxalite belonging to the Korukonda dalam was killed by the police.According to sources, five policemen managed to escape and reach G K Veedhi Police Station on Saturday morning. The dead included one assistant sub-inspector and two head constables. The victims belonged to the fifth battalion of the APSP, Vizianagaram.This is the second major incident after the Naxalites had attacked and killed policemen and tribals while they were escorting ballot boxes at Mandipet near Chintapalli in the 1998 Lok Sabha elections.On Friday night the Naxalites split into three groups and climbed atop the quarters belonging to doctors at the primary health centre located opposite the outpost with the help of a ladder. One of the groups first threw a grenade at the sentry guarding the PHC entrance, killing him on the spot. Hearing the explosion, the sentry outside the outpost opened fire killing one Naxalite.Meanwhile, the other two groups approached the outpost throwing grenades. While some policemen managed to flee, others died in the attack. The policemen were in the midst of their dinner and could neither escape nor resist the attack effectively.According to State Home Minister T Devender Goud, the Naxalites had fired at the outpost from the top of the doctors' quarters and the police could not fire back as there were chances that innocent people within the PHC could get killed.He said the police began firing at the Naxalites as they came down from the quarters but they were outnumbered and the extremists gained the upper hand as according to him, there were 40 Naxalites and only 21 policemen at the outpost. He said the main role was played by the Korukonda dalam of the PWG. The Naxalites seemed to have made their plans thoroughly and it was a lapse on the part of the police not to have any prior knowledge.After the attack, the Naxalites took away 23 weapons, including light machine guns, one machine gun and rifles from the outpost.As soon as the attack was over, two more teams of Naxalites blocked the road to the outpost by placing tree trunks at Sapparla and Tuppulavada, preventing reinforcements from arriving either from G K Veedhi or Sileru.At Sapparla, the Naxalites opened fire when they saw a constable inside an APSRTC bus whose driver applied the brakes when he saw the tree trunks across the road. The passengers had got down and were removing the trees when the Naxalites opened fire. The policeman fired back but was injured. In the crossfire, a woman passenger too was injured.At Tuppulavada, the Naxalites opened fire when they saw a police vehicle approaching them but there are no reports of any injuries.Later, a police team rushed to the outpost and brought the wounded policemen to Chintapalli from where they were flown in Navy helicopters to Visakhapatnam for treatment.Home Minister Goud, Additional Director General of Police M A Basith and District Superintendent of Police K Narasimha Reddy visited the site of the attack.
