Lalgarh, June 21: Security forces moved into Lalgarh and took control of the police station here to snuff out the six-day old siege by Maoists who ambushed a convoy en route to the area in West Midnapore district injuring six policemen.
A landmine, hidden underneath a culvert, exploded as a convoy ferrying security forces passed over it on the West Midnapore-Bankura district border injuring four policemen, Superintendent of Police, Burdwan, Humayun Kabir, who was leading the men told agency.
A group of around 60 Maoists then fired at the convoy injuring another two, he said.
Four Maoist were killed in the encounter, while four policemen were injured in the landmine blast and two others in firing by the Maoists.
In Delhi, Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee said the West Bengal government was considering banning the CPI(Maoists) following a suggestion by Home Minister P Chidambaram.
The first group of security men arrived at Lalgarh police station, which had been cut off by the tribals since November last year, with the police saying that it was a ‘partial victory’.
DIG (Midnapore Range) Praveen Kumar told an impromptu press conference before the police station, “It is a partial victory. The hundred per cent operation is yet to be completed. It may take days, even weeks to do this.”
Maoist leader Koteswar Rao, who is believed to be providing leadership to the agitation at Lalgarh, said the West Bengal government should stop the police operation and hold talks with the people to find a solution to their problems.
“If the Left Front government wants to have discussion with the people of Lalgarh, the operation by the police and security forces against them should end,” Rao, a politburo member of the CPI(Maoist), said.
In Kolkata, the Trinamool Congress alleged that one of four Maoists killed by the security forces was Gobina Daw, TC leader of Garbeta-II block.
Trinamool Congress leader Sobhan Chatterjee said the “CPI(M) men identified Daw as a Maoist and the police shot him dead.”
Party chief Mamata Banerjee said “we don’t want terrorism. We want peace. State-sponsored terrorism must end.”
On their way to Lalgarh, security men also came under fire from Maoists on the Pingboni-Sarenga road, the Burdwan SP said.
Two landmines planted on the road, which was blocked with felled trees, were defused, Kabir said.
The security men wearing bullet-proof vests sanitised the Jhitka jungle, a Maoist area stretching for five km from Binpur ahead of Lalgarh before the forces headed towards Lalgarh.
In Kolkata, Chief Secretary Asok Mohan Chakraborty said “We have been able to enter Lalgarh police station….our task now is for the return of normalcy and to win back the confidence of the people.”
The DIG (Midnapore Range) said “We have an agenda to establish the rule of the law. Our next move will be to clear 42 villages in areas in Lalgarh from the agitators.”
Though it takes two hours to cover the distance between Midnapore town and Lalgarh, the security forces required three days. “We moved with caution. We took measures not to risk the lives of ordinary people,” the DIG said.
-IANS