Malkangiri:
Armed Maoists blew up a block office building at Padia in Odisha's Malkangiri district early today using powerful explosives, police said.
A group of armed ultras, including women, stormed into Padia, about 70 km from Malkangiri, in the early hours and entered the block office building after breaking the lock, Malkangiri Superintendent of Police Akhileswar Singh said.
The red rebels set the building on fire before triggering a powerful blast, causing extensive damage to the structure, he said, adding no one was harmed in the attack.
Four of the five rooms in the building with asbestos roof were completely destroyed in the blast which damaged volumes of documents and important records, gram panchayat officer Basant Behera said.
The SP said the attack was a desperate attempt by the Maoists to counter stepped up anti-naxal operations mounted by the security forces in the region.
A poster found from the site stated that the attack was in protest against an encounter with security forces in September this year in which around 13 Maoists had been killed, police said; adding the poster also sought a halt to anti-naxal operation and withdrawal of BSF from the region.
Maoists had blown up the new building of Padia block office in September, 2010, following which work was being done from the old building which now got destroyed in the pre-dawn attack, sources said.
However, the Maoists are desperate to make a comeback in the districts located along Andhra Pradesh-Chhattisgarh and Andhra-Odisha borders, the officer said, adding that of the eight districts affected by Left-Wing Extremism in AP, the ultras are more active and intense in Visakhapatnam and Khammam districts.
There are around 280 underground cadres (from AP) operating in different states and in the bordering areas of the state, while 40 are active in AP, he said and pointed out that of the 17 members of the central committee, 11 are from Andhra Pradesh.
Among the major arrests of Maoists during 2013, a joint team of the Assam Police and the Special Intelligence Branch from Andhra Pradesh arrested top CPI (Maoist) leader Anukul Chandra Naskar alias Goer Chandra Naskar alias Pareshji in southern Assam's Cachar district in May.
Hardcore Maoist Sriramula Srinivas alias Sudarshan, wanted in connection with several cases including the killing of former Home Minister A Madhava Reddy and carrying a reward of Rs 20 lakh on his head, was arrested in Khammam district in March.
Another senior Maoist leader Pusa Sivanarayana, who was in-charge of the Central Committee protection platoon, carrying a cash reward of Rs 3 lakh on his head, was arrested in Medak district in October.
The 'Greyhounds' forces, an elite anti-Naxal commando force of AP Police, are also participating in inter-state anti-extremist operations against Maoists in Odisha and also in Gadchiroli district in Maharashtra, the senior police officer said.