PATNA — At least 100 Maoist terrorists attacked a Bihar village and gunned down 16 people, including 5 children, after the villagers disobeyed a Maoist diktat, police said Friday.
The incident took place late Thursday in Amausi village in Khagaria district.
Villagers told police that the guerrillas had tied the hands of the victims before shooting them dead.
“Over 100 Maoists armed with automatic weapons attacked Amausi village and shot dead 16 villagers, including five children,” Deputy Superintendent of Police Ajay Pandey said, adding that it appeared to be over a land dispute but that the police were still investigating.
The police said the attack most likely came after the villagers disobeyed a Maoist diktat forbidding them to cultivate disputed farmland.
Most of the victims belong to a particular backward caste.
“All senior district officials are camping in the village and security forces have been deployed. The Special Task Force along with district police have launched combing operations against Maoists in Khagaria,” Pandey added.
“The rebels attacked the village with the intention of ousting the villagers and grabbing their land,” said Additional Director General of Police Neelmani.
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar condemned the incident and asked top officials of the state administration to probe into it.
“It is a shocking incident and should be condemned by one and all,” Nitish Kumar said, while announcing compensation of Rs 1.5 lakh to the families of each victim.
Deputy CM Sushil Kumar Modi, accompanied by Land and Revenue minister Narendra Narayan Yadav and Director General of Police Anand Shankar flew to Khagaria where the massacre by suspected Maoists took place
The incident prompted opposition Lok Janshakti Party chief Ram Vilas Paswan to demand Nitish Kumar’s resignation.
- AGENCIES
Culprits should be given severe punsihment , to give a strong message to Bohar commmon man that they are safe in Bihar !!
Paro Singh survived the Khagaria carnage because he pretended to be dead even after the marauders’ bullet missed him. So shocked and shaken he was that he was not only wailing but also shivering with fright even as hundreds of cops and villagers surrounded him 18 hours after the killings. Here’s how the 50-year-old attempted a recreation of the gory carnage
We were sleeping under a shed at our farmland 21 of us, including five children. I felt someone was trying to wake me up but as I opened and rubbed my eyes, I saw around 25-30 gun-toting Musahars surrounding us. They pointed their guns at us and ordered us to part with our belongings. We told them we had nothing valuable to oblige them.
Amid all these talks, four villagers did a disappearing act, taking advantage of the darkness. This made the Musahars furious. One of them ordered others to tie our hands backwards. They had come prepared with ropes and as they tied our hands, the children started crying.
The killers did not waste time and started shooting us. One after another slumped on the ground. The bullet they fired at me crossed through the space between my hands and the back. But I, too, fell on the ground, out of sheer fear of confronting death from so close.
After they were through with all of us, the killers moved around, kicking us and muttering: “Mar gaya.” I lay idle and stopped breathing, trying my best to stop my body from shaking. Thank God, the man, who kicked me into my abdomen, too said: “Mar gaya.”
My 12-year-old nephew Diwana had also survived. He gained consciousness only minutes after the Musahars left, moaned and asked for water. I had by then stood up, but decided not to give him water because I had heard from someone that drinking water may prove fatal for a person with bullet injuries. I told him to wait.
Somehow I untied my hands and ran towards Icharwa. I crossed the two streams, between Icharwa and Amousi, on a boat silently. By the time I came back to Amousi along with the villagers, my nephew was no more.
(As told to Sanjeev Kumar Verma)
This is really terrific ,how can people be so inhumane ,it really hurts seeing such type of incidents .
The culprit should be hanged till death or else give them such a punishment that no body else would dare to do it again ,nitish ji should take very tough stand on this.
Land reforms is the need of the hour.People are killing each other for it and govt is just a spectator.
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The govt has to track down culprits. The govt has to combat naxalism on both fronts, first police has to be strengthened and second politically i.e implementing land reforms.
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