This Article is From Jun 22, 2009

Lalgarh remains tense; five states on Naxal alert

Lalgarh remains tense; five states on Naxal alert
Lalgarh:

After a five-day siege by Maoists in Lalgarh, on Monday the security forces will concentrate on preventing Maoists attacks on police stations, soft targets like political leaders and will look out for landmine blasts.

There will be an attempt to open up several fronts on the Baltore route towards Lalgarh for easy vehicular movement of troops. There are still 18 police stations under Maoist control. The security forces will be trying to liberate these.

Meanwhile, two Trinamool Congress leaders, Shishir Adhikari and Mukul Roy, were prevented from entering Lalgarh. They were stopped by CPM men at Pirakata.

Earlier on Sunday night, four people were arrested while they were planting a landmine. A detonator, one firearm and a mobile were recovered from them.

Meanwhile, the Centre has sounded out an alert to five Naxal-hit states against possible violence as CPI (Maoist) called for a 48-hour bandh starting on Monday. The bandh was called to protests the security forces operation in Lalgarh.

Intelligence inputs warn of possible "demonstrative acts of violence" by Left wing extremists. Home Minister P Chidambaram has issued an alert specifically to Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Orissa and West Bengal.

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