Maoists blow up Panchayat building in Odisha

Malkangiri (Odisha): Maoists blew up a Panchayat building in Odisha`s Malkangiri district, in an apparent bid to scuttle an anti-Naxal operation.

The police on Tuesday said about 60 armed Maoists and their supporters stormed into Kiang around midnight last night and broke open the doors of the two-storeyed building before triggering the blast using powerful explosives. However, no one was injured in the incident though office documents were damaged even as fear-stricken people preferred to remain indoors. Malkangiri Superintendent of Police Akhileswar Singh said that an investigation was being conducted into the incident and the extent of the damage was being assessed. No complaint has been filed by the panchayat authorities in this connection, he said. Ultras from neighbouring Chhattisgarh rule the roost in the district often terrorising people besides creating hurdles before the security forces in carrying out anti-Naxal operations. As different buildings, including those belonging to panchayats are generally used for accommodating security forces during anti-Maoist operations, the red rebels often target these structures, sources said. In the last one month they had kidnapped at least six persons from Kiang and adjoining Mahupadar panchayat areas suspecting them to be police informers and killed three of them. PTI