2 buses, 1 truck on fire 2 days after the Sukma fake encounter

Naxals in a big group stopped two buses and asked the occupants to get down in Chhattisgarh’s insurgency-hit Dantewada district. They then set the buses on fire. Later they stopped a truck and torched it too. The incident happened just after 2 days, when security forces raided a camp in Sukma, murdered 15 innocent tribals in a so-called encounter named as “fake encounter” by human rights activists. Special Correspondent Tribal activist Soni Sori on Wednesday alleged that not a single person out of the 15 killed in Monday’s “encounter” was a Maoist.

“An operation was launched in that area on Sunday. Due to the fear that the security forces will harass them, some villagers gathered at one place on the intervening night of Sunday and Monday. On Monday morning, the villagers saw the security forces and panicked. The security forces opened indiscriminate fire on these people. Six people of Nulkatong village, seven of Gompad, one villager each of Villapocha and Kindram were killed in the firing,” Ms.Sori told The Hindu.

She claimed that she met the family members of all the deceased men in Sukma on Monday.

“They (family members) told me that none of the villagers was carrying any weapon or fired at the security forces. They tried to hide and run away fearing harassment by the forces. They were not Maoists. An independent inquiry is needed. If they were really Maoists, how come none of them had a single automatic weapon in a group of 15? The 15 dead included two brothers and seven teenagers. We appeal to all the political parties, independent organisations, and the media to visit this area and verify the facts,” Ms. Sori said.

Source: Times of India, The Hindu