Naxals besiege Usur village

Jagdalpur, Chhattisgarh, Apr 18 (UNI) The naxalites call for Chhattisgarh bandh today evoked a partial response in South Bastar area, where about 2500 ultras besieged Usur village in Dantewada district since this morning to oppose the tribals' support to ''Salwa Judum'' campaign, police said.

The CPI (Maoist) give a call for bandh to protest the government's alleged failure to solve people's problems and fake encounter killings of naxalite zonal commander Sagar alias Gupa Korwas and his wife Kiran in Sarguja district. Few shops in Bijapur were kept closed in response to the bandh call, police said.

Official reports received here said apprehending major strike by the ultras, the Andhra Pradesh government has been alerted. Usur is located close to Andhra Pradesh border.

A high-level meeting was in progress in the state capital Raipur to evolve a strategy to deal with the situation.

Police sources said since naxalites out number the police personnel available at Usur police station, additional security force of CRPF, Nagaland Armed Police, and Chhattisgarh Armed Force jawans have been rushed from Bijapur, about 50 from Usur.

Apprehending that the ultras may carry out landmine explosions, the security personnel were asked to avoid the road and cover the distance on foot.

The naxalites also beat up a few villagers for their participation in the Salwa Judum campaign, the report said.

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