Thrissur/kozhikode: Suspected Maoists struck again in the state, attacking a forest office at Attappady and the outlets of KFC and McDonald at Chandranagar in Palakkad early on Monday. Anti-socials also ransacked a forest staff quarters at Kunjom near Vellamunda in Wayanad district on Sunday night.
According to police, a group of seven persons ransacked the two outlets on the Palakkad - Coimbatore national highway in Palakkad city around 7 a.m. The masked men smashed the glass doors and distributed anti-US pamphlets and posters calling for armed revolution.
In the attack on the Silent Valley forest range office at Mukkali, Maoists destroyed two office computers after breaking open the front door.
They attempted to set ablaze the files by pouring kerosene over them. A printer, photocopier and two telephones in the office were smashed.
Glass windows of the office were broken by pelting stones. They also burnt a Bolero jeep of the assistant wildlife warden of Silent Valley National Park, which was parked outside the building.
The group pasted posters on the walls around the office urging the people to take up arms against the government.
The leaflets thrown on the premises blamed the government for the pathetic condition of tribals. Though people in the nearby residence of the forest officials came out hearing the noise, none dared to come near the office seeing the armed Maoists.
“Mukkali comes under the buffer zone of Silent Valley National Park and is a crucial junction on the highway linking Mannarkkad with Coimbatore via Attappady,” said district collector K.K. Ramachandran.
The Kerala police’s anti-Maoist wing ‘Thunderbolt’ cordoned off the area and began combing operations in the nearby areas of Attappady under the leadership of Palakkad police superintendent S. Manjunath. The police said two persons were taken into custody in connection with the attack.
Forest quarters in Wayanad attacked
In the attack at Kunjom, the miscreants broke open the window of the vacant quarters used by tribal watchmen occasionally, and set the furniture and papers kept inside on fire.
Mananthavady DySP A.R. Premkumar said they had retrieved a copy of ‘Kattuthee,’ a Maoist publication, from the spot. “We are yet to get any information regarding the miscreants.
Nobody has spotted any suspicious activity in the area and we do not have any idea about the number of persons involved in the attack,” Mr Premkumar told DC.
He said the miscreants broke open the window and then threw lighted match sticks inside. The attack probably happened between 12 a.m. and 5 a.m, he added. The quarters was occasionally used by tribal watchmen on night duty.
Some local sources said that Maoist pamphlets and notices were stuck in Kunjom town and nearby areas. The alleged encounter between a Maoist gang and Thunderbolt team had occurred in this area a few days ago.
