Maoists wreck havoc in West Midnapore villages

Maoists blew up a building housing the office of a farmers' organisation and set afire a community hall in Jhargram sub-division of West Midnapore district early on Friday.

Police said that a large group of ultras raided Bandhgora village a little after 1 am and triggered a landmine blast in front of the building, housing the Krishak Sabha office, blowing it up.

The group then attacked the neighbouring village of Radhanagar where they set ablaze a community hall, triggering panic among the villagers.

Jhargram Sub Divisional Officer, C Muragan, said the Radhanagar attack followed Thursday's attack by activists of the People's Committee Against Police Atrocities in retaliation to the setting ablaze of several houses of PCPA supporters by residents of six neighbouring villages to avenge the killing of Srikanta Mondal, a school employee, by the Maoists the day before.

A successful anti-Maoist resistance movement at Radhanagar village has kept the ultras away for sometime which explained the successive Maoist attacks on the village, police said.

Mondal was killed because he had mobilised the people against the Maoists, they said.