Talpukuria, January 28: Joint forces gunned down a Maoist commander after a 10-hour exchange of fire at Belpahari on Wednesday. Eleven Maoists and their supporters were also arrested.
“Acting on intelligence input, we began operation at Talpukuria village in Belpahari at 8.30 am. A Maoist commander was shot dead.
We have his body. We also arrested 11 villagers, of which six are members of the Maoists squad.
The rest are from the PCAPA who helped the Mosists,” said SP, West Midnapore, Manoj Verma.
He said the police have seized three land mines, ammunition, arms and Maoist literature from the Maoist shelter at Talpukuria.
—Agencies