Maoists roam Lalgarh, WB govt decides to launch operation

Lalgarh/Kolkata, June 17: Flaunting AK-47 rifles, Maoists today roamed Lalgarh and formed a human shield comprising women and children vowing to stop security forces from storming the area as three CPI-M activists were killed in fresh outbreak of violence, after which West Bengal decided to launch an operation against the naxals without saying when.

Having taken control of the area after forcing the police out, agitating tribals, backed by Maoists, dug up the roads at several places and blocked roads with more than 100 tree trunks to obstruct movement as 2,100 paramilitary forces, including a special force raised to combat Left-wing ultras reached Jhargram, near Lalgarh.

West Bengal Home Secretary Ardhendu Sen told reporters in Kolkata that the state police backed by central paramilitary forces would launch operations at Lalgarh and areas adjoining Jhargram in West Midnapore district. He, however, declined to disclose when the operations would begin. "I will not tell you the date." The Maoists armed with AK-47 rifles manned the roads between Lalgarh and Belpahari, another naxal-infested area, and erected a three-tier human shield by using children and women, a senior police official said.

Approachable from four directions by metalled and mud roads, Lalgarh remained cut-off from three sides after tribals torched the police stations and ransacked the houses of local CPI(M) leaders and took over the entire area. PTI