New Delhi: Maoist rebels in Lalgarh block in Midnapore district of West Bengal have offered to talk with the government three days after security forces launched operations against them.
The rebels, who are led by the extremist Communist Party of India-Maoists, want security operations againt them stopped and want officials to come into Lalgarh and speak to them.
Security forces on Saturday entered Lalgarh and were two km away from the police station, which is under Maoist control. A senior police officer said personnel of the CRPF, BSF, State Armed Police, Eastern Frontier Rifles and the Kolkata Police entered the besieged area after crossing a five-km stretch of the Jhitka forest, a Maoist stronghold, he said.
PTI reports troops were moving in armoured vehicles fitted with anti-landmine devices and mortars. Maoists, on Friday, put up stiff resistance to the advancing security forces in Lalgarh, carrying out surprise attacks and engaging them in heavy gunbattles on the second day of a massive operation launched by the West Bengal government to free the area of the leftwing radicals.
Two security personnel were injured in a landmine blast.
The rebels dug roads, burnt bridges and felled trees in the area, forcing the central and state police personnel to use firearms and slowed down their march to retake the rebel-held area in West Midnapore district. The forces also made baton charges and lobbed tear gas shells to chase the rebels.
Koteshwar Rao, politburo member of the Communist Part of India-Maoists, told CNN-IBN on Thursday people in Lalgarh on had revolted because the Left Front government of the state didn’t allow their progress.
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