After block office, Maoists blow up bridge in Malkangiri

--bandh observed in Malkangiri-Koraput

MALKANGIRI: After exploding Padia block office this week, armed Maoists blew up a bridge on the river Saberi snapping road link between Kalimela and Padia in Malkangiri district in the wee hours of Saturday.

A group of about 60 ultras triggered a blast using powerful explosives and destroyed the bridge in the wee hours, police said. The incident was apparently aimed at stalling movement of security forces as they were using the vital road to undertake combing operations against the red rebels, police said.

According to Malkangiri SP Akhileswar Singh, the Maoists have created a five-foot-long pit on the road. “Steps are being taken to repair it. They, however, caused no harm to the bridge,” he said.

Maoists used dynamites for the blast, reports said.

In another incident in Kalimela area, Maoists looted the house of a Special Police Officer Lacha Madkami of Sangel village late on Friday night. Earlier, the Maoists had asked Lacha to resign from the SPO post, police said.

Before leaving the spot, the red rebels left behind posters announcing an indefinite bandh in the Koraput-Malkangiri district beginning from Saturday to protest operations by the security forces in the district.