Maoists kill three in Chhattisgarh

RAIPUR - Maoist guerrillas, including female rebels, opened indiscriminate fire at a weekly market in Chhattisgarh’s Bijapur district Sunday, killing three people and injuring five, a police official said.

The incident took place at a forested area, Kokrapara, some 450 km south from here, in Bijapur district of state’s insurgency-hit Bastar region.

‘About 50 insurgents armed with guns and sharp-edged weapons stormed into a weekly market and opened fire. Three persons, including a SPO (special police officer), were killed on the spot,’ Ankit Garg, district superintendent of police, told IANS by phone.

He said that other two dead were a teacher and a villager.

The death toll may rise as the five injured, who received multiple injuries on head due to attacks by sharp-edged weapons, are stated to be in a critical condition.

Garg said that the injured were first taken to district government hospital at Bijapur town, and then referred to Jagdalpur town for medical attention.