Outlawed People's War naxalites blasted a godown of the soft drink company Pepsi in Anantapur town in Andhra Pradesh on Sunday night in protest against the attack on Iraq.
No one was injured in the blast.
According to a police spokesman, six armed naxalites came to the godown at Srinivasa Nagar colony near Anantapur railway station, around 0900 IST, when the distributor of the soft drink company Saikumar, alongwith three others were watching the India-Australia cricket match on television. The intruders asked them to leave the place immediately.
The naxalites then proceeded to plant bucket bombs and pipe bombs and exploded them inside the premises. The asbestos-sheet-roofed building was fully damaged in the incident. Windowpanes of three apartments in the neighbourhood were shattered.
Police said nine refrigerators, two auto-rickshaws, one television set and 2,750 cases of Pepsi bottles were damaged. The naxalites left a note with the staff stating the blast is to protest the American war on Iraq.
Anantapur Superintendent of Police Anil Kumar Puneetha and senior police officials visited the spot and special police teams were pressed into the search for the naxalites who disappeared into the nearby residential areas.
In another incident in Yerragondapalem in Prakasam district, naxalites entered the Coco Cola godown and destroyed eight cases of bottles. They raised slogans against the United States and United Kingdom demanding withdrawal of forces from Iraq.
The naxalites also pasted anti-US posters on all houses in Veerabhadrapuram village, asking India to ban investments from the US and UK in protest against the war. They also lambasted the NDA government for its soft corner for the two 'imperialist' nations.
Meanwhile, two constables were injured when the PW naxalites triggered a landmine near Nagaluti in Nallamala forest area of Kurnool district on Sunday evening.
A 20-member police party was combing the area when the naxalites triggered the landmine. The police opened fire and the exchange lasted an hour. Police reinforcements were dispatched to the area for intensify combing operations.