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| Kathmandu, Wednesday April 17, 2002 Baishakh 04, 2059. |
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Maoists kill 9 cops in Gorkha,
32 more rebel bodies found in Dang
Post Report
KATHMANDU, April 16:The outlawed Maoist rebels
on Monday evening killed nine policemen and a civilian during their attack on the Area
Police Office in the suburb Barpak Village Development Committee (VDC) of Gorkha district.
According to our reporters, Ishwori Neupane and
Kulchandra Neupane, the rebels started pounding the post at about 6:30 p.m. and killed
nine policemen including a Sub-Inspector and two Assistant Sub-Inspectors (ASIs).
District-based security sources have said that
18 more policemen survived the three-hour long police-Maoist gunfire after they managed to
escape the police outpost. The surviving policemen were rescued by a helicopter on Tuesday
afternoon. The bodies of the slain policemen were taken to Pokhara on Tuesday.
According to Bhola Prasad Silwal, Chief District
Officer of Gorkha, among the deceased are ASI Om Bahadur Thapa (Kaski), ASI Krishna
Bahadur Karki (Palpa), Head Constables Prem Bahadur Thapa (Nawalparasi), Durga Dutta
Paneru (Dadeldhura), Constables Shumsher Bahadur Bhujel (Kaski), Sujan Budhathoki
(Salyan), Ram Bahadur Mali (Parsa) and Bharat Dawadi (Achham). The SI has still not been
identified.
The rebels also looted eight rifles, three
pistols, one revolver and communication sets from the incident site after completely
destroying the post. Due to lack of communication sets, the district headquarters received
the information about the attack only on Tuesday morning. Silwal said the security forces
have carried out massive search operation near the site.
After attacking the police post, the rebels had
shot dead 19-year-old Min Bahadur Ghale, resident of Barpak-7, accusing him of tipping-off
the police. A 70-year-old person also sustained injuries due to the Maoist attack.
Meanwhile, with the 32 more bodies of the Maoist
rebels, who attacked the Satbariya- based camp of the Armed Police Force (APF) six days
ago, discovered today, the death toll of the Maoists in the deadly attack has reached 92.
The security forces on Tuesday discovered the 92
bodies around the Satbariya area, our reporter, J Pandey, quoted a senior APF officer as
saying from the incident site.
The officer said the corpses were discovered in
scattered or buried or semi-buried conditions within two to three kilometres’ area
from the incident site. The security forces had discovered 60 dead bodies of the Maoists
till Monday. Three bodies of women rebels were among those found until now and the search
is still on.
The rebels by Monday also took away 12 more
bodies of their comrades. It is also believed that the Maoists had taken away the bodies
of the dead militia chiefs.
The Maoists have also beheaded almost 100 dead
colleagues in the incident. The rebels then took away the heads and dumped it in the
Gangdi brook of Rajpur VDC beyond the Rapti River, according to locals. The area lies
three kilometres away from the site of incident.
"The heads were dumped when the army
helicopters were inspecting the site on the second day of the incident," a locally
elected leader told The Kathmandu Post. "The heads could be distinctly seen floating
along the river even today."
The security forces have still not been to the
areas of Rajpur and Bela VDCs. The areas have been deemed as the "shelter areas"
of the Maoists.
At the same time, reports of vandalising and
destroying of development infrastructures by the Maoists have still been pouring in from
various districts. According to our Surkhet-based correspondent, the Maoist rebels on
Sunday evening gutted a bridge constructed along the Chhinchu-Jajarkot Road. Due to this,
altogether eight buses have been stranded along the road. The road could not be cleared
even by Tuesday.
Another group of the rebels also burnt the
offices of Gadhi and Lekhgaon VDCs and partially destroyed it. The rebels also completely
destroyed official documents.
Meanwhile, our Parbat-based correspondent
reported that the Maoist rebels on Monday night completely destroyed a health post
stationed at Malika VDC of Baglung district. Dozens of Maoists were involved in the
destruction.
According to Deputy Superintendent of Police,
Dinesh Amatya, a police inspection team has already been dispatched to the incident site.
The District Health Office said that different medicines worth Rs 18,000 were sent to the
destroyed health post only a few days before.
Another rebel group on Monday night completely
destroyed the office of Dekhatbhuli VDC of Kanchanpur district. After destroying the VDC
office, the rebels also destroyed official documents, furniture and other property. The
rebels also set fire on the adjoining Area Post Office.
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