Maoists kill 8 villagers in Nallamala forests

In a gruesome act, Maoists in Andhra Pradesh killed eight villagers and badly injured another two in the wee hours of Monday in the dense Nallamala forests in retaliation to the earlier killings involving a rival Dalit group.

According to state home minister K Jana Reddy, the Maoists operating in the nearby forest area of Vempenta village in Kurnool district have first summoned about 30 persons, suspected to be involved in the previous incident, to be present at their camp in the forest on that night.

The villagers, under the impression that the naxalite leaders would negotiate peace between the rival groups, have obeyed the instructions only to find the execution of death penalty on eight of them by armed naxalites.

Following the killing of Vempenta village sarpanch by the erstwhile People's War Group (now Maoists) in July 1998, his followers had allegedly killed 9 Dalits who belong to a particular subcaste to avenge the murder of their leader.

The home minister said that after the eruption of a dispute between the two groups belonging to different Dalit subcastes in the forefront on the possession of a farm land belonging to the Endowments Department, extremists of two denominations (PWG and Pratighatana) supported the rival groups in a bid to get a foothold in the village, adding another deadly dimension to the faction-ridden Rayalaseema village.

The nine Dalits who were slayed by the rival group being patronised by the Maoists, the latest killing of 8 villagers of the rival group is viewed as a mindless case of revenge killing, the minister said.

The state government announced an exgratia of Rs 5 lakh to the nearest family members of the deceased and promised to provide employment to the dependents of these families.

"The incident is a challenge to those who argue for human rights of the violators of the constitution. Yet, our general approach to the problem of extremism will not be altered by a couple of such incidents," the home minister said.