Gun-wielding group pasted posters, raised slogans, returned to forest

Suspected Maoists, brandishing guns, visited Ambayathode here on Monday morning and handed over pamphlets to two persons near a shop. They pasted posters and raised slogans before returning to the forest, the police said.

According to the police, the public saw at least three gun-wielding persons at 6 a.m. The group spent at least 15 minutes there. On receiving information that they had returned to the Kottiyoor wildlife sanctuary, the police inspected the forest. Later, the police and a team of Thunderbolt, the commando force of the Kerala Police, carried out a combing operation in the forest.

The posters called upon the people to “avenge the blood spilled at Attappady,” a reference to the killing of four Maoists in an alleged encounter with the police last year. The Union and State governments were answerable for this bloodshed. They demanded that Operation Samadhan, aimed at countering Maoist movement, be withdrawn. They appealed to the people to make the bandh against the operation on January 31 a success. Last year, four alleged Maoists, including a woman, had reached Ambayathode during the same period. The group bought groceries from a nearby shop and returned to the forest after raising slogans against the BJP and the CPI(M).