Seven policemen among eight killed in naxal attack

By Our Special Correspondent

VISAKHAPATNAM, FEB. 19. Seven policemen and one naxalite were killed in an attack on the Armed Out-Post (AOP) at Darakonda village in Gudem Kotha Veedhi mandal of Visakhapatnam district on Friday night.

Eight policemen were injured, three of them seriously, in the attack. They have been admitted to a private hospital here.

Naxalites blasted the AOP and the PHC building adjacent to it before leaving the scene after a three-hour battle.

The dead were identified as B. Krishnamurthy (58), Armed Reserve Sub-Inspector, M. Aseervadam (56), K. Nagalingam (48), (both head constables), K. Satyanarayana (35), D. Satyanarayana Raju (36), G. Appalaraju (35) and Y. Asirinaidu (40), (all constables).

All of them belonged to V Battallion of the Andhra Pradesh Special Police, Vizianagaram.

The identity of the dead naxalite, aged around 25, has not been established. But the police suspect him to be Vatkapur Chandramouli alias Devanna.

A mob of over 100, mostly naxalites, surrounded the outpost when the gong for the hour-long dinner went at 7 p.m.

Some of them climbed to the roof of the Primary Health Centre (PHC) building and asked the policemen over a loudspeaker to surrender. But the policemen did not yield. They left the dinner plates and rushed to the weapons' room.

A battle ensued and the casualties were heavy on the police side as they were outnumbered.

The naxalites threw a petrol bomb on a sentry and he was charred to death. More petrol bombs were hurled at the policemen which forced them to flee the place in a bid to avoid being sitting ducks to the naxalites who also used country bombs packed in soap boxes, hand grenades and smoke- bombs. some of which did not go off and lay strewn on the ground.

The Darakonda village, about 200 km. from here, was deserted in the night as if the villagers were forewarned.

The men were away and the wails of the policemen for water all night were left unanswered. Only when a team of reporters reached the place on Saturday morning did the villagers also come out.

They earned the wrath of the policemen who abused them for not coming out to help them in the night.

On their way back, the naxalites reportedly sang revolutionary songs on the Darakonda road celebrating the victory and condemning the Koyyuru encounter killings by the police.

They also decamped with 24 SLRs, four sten guns and one AK-47 belonging to the police.

Well-planned attack

The attack was pre-planned and the naxalites felled trees to create road blockades even at places like Sattarla, 14 km. away from the scene, to prevent police parties from outside reaching the place.

The police, handicapped by the heavy rain, were also put at a disadvantage by the terrain and the compound wall around the AOP, which could not allow them to fire back effectively at the naxalites who were placed at a slightly elevated place.

Intelligence failure could not be ruled out as the villagers were told by the naxalites through public address system not to stir out of their homes.

Two groups of naxalites, retreating after the attack, engaged the additional forces in an exchange of fire at Tuppalapadu on Sileru- Darakona road and on Gudem Kotha Veedhi-Darakonda road near Lankapakala village.

Two constables received injuries in the second attack. Ms. Lakshmi of Darakonda village, who was travelling in an APSRTC bus which stopped at the roadblock, received minor injuries in the exchange of fire.Mr. T. Devender Goud, Home Minister, who rushed to Darakonda by helicopter along with top police officials, told reporters here that some mistakes were noticed during the preliminary examination.

The height of the compound wall proved to be a disadvantage as the policemen could not fire back effectively at the extremists and the three grenades the police threw at the attackers did not go off.

However, the Home Minister said that the policemen on duty at AOP fought a valiant battle and did not lose their confidence or were demoralised even in the face of a severe attack and tried till the end to resist it with a great unity.

According to him, about 40 to 50 extremists were on the attacking party.

Mr. Goud refused to accept the observation that an incident of surrender of some naxalites was followed by a major strike by the PWG. The PWG was not strong in the district but it might have gathered cadre from other places for this operation.

The Home Minister mourned the dead policemen and expressed his sympathy to their families. He called on the injured policemen and the woman bus passenger at a city hospital where they were brought for treatment.

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