PHULBANI: In a retaliatory attack, Maoists gunned down a watchman at a road construction site at Pipalpada under Phulbani Sadar police limits suspecting him to be a police informer and torched five vehicles.

Superintendent of Police Prateek Singh said around 20 to 25 armed Maoists belonging to Kalahandi-Kandhamal-Boudh-Nayagarh (KKBN) division attacked the contractor’s camp at Pipalpada late on Saturday and set ablaze five vehicles, including a road roller, three tractors and a mini truck, engaged in construction of Sudrukumpa-Madikola road under Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY).

The Maoists then took away the watchman, identified as Rabindra Mallick (40), from the camp to the nearby forest and shot him dead. Before leaving the area, the Maoists put up two handwritten leaflets near the site. The leaflets mentioned that the attack was in retaliation to the killing of Maoist cadre Baldal and four others in May last year, the SP said.

Meanwhile, combing operation has been intensified by the security forces after the incident. At least five Maoists were killed in Sudrukumpa area in May last year in an exchange of fire with the police. The Maoist cadres of Kandhamal, Boudh and Nayagarh divisions frequently visit the area.