Four Maoists were killed and two policemen injured in the early hours of Friday in an encounter with security forces on the India-Nepal border in Bihar.

District police officials said the operation took place under the Laukariya police station. It was conducted by a joint team of the Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) and the Special Task Force (STF) of the State police. The STF was led by Superintendent of Police Dharmendra Jha.

The incident took place in the Valmikinagar forest area of Harnatand in Bagaha of West Champaran district, said a senior police official at the Patna headquarters.

Inspector General of SSB, Patna Frontier, Sanjay Kumar, said the operation was led by SSB Deputy Commandant Narpat Singh. “In the operation, SSB inspector Rituraj got injured with a bullet injury in his wrist...he was taken to the hospital and is out of danger”.

Arms seized

Arms and ammunition, including an AK-47 series rifle, three SLRs (self-loading rifles) and one 303 Bolt Action rifle have been recovered from the encounter spot. However, some Maoists are believed to have escaped from the spot taking advantage of the dense forest area and incessant rain, said local police officials.

District police officials said the Maoist group was led by troop commander Ram Babu Ram alias Rajan. “Ram is a member of north Bihar special area committee of CPI(Maoists)… there were 12 members in the troop of Ram Babu Ram in which four were killed”, said a police official. The killed Maoists have been identified as Amarlal Dev alias Nakul, Alok Ram, Deepak Ram and Chotu Kumar.

Maoists kill 2 villagers

On late Thursday night, alleged Maoists killed two persons by slitting their throat in Baghel village of Haveli Kharagpur block in Munger district of Bihar. The deceased villagers have been identified as Brijlal Tuddu and Arun Ray.

“The Maoists left hand-written pamphlets at the spot accusing both the villagers as police informers”, Munger range Deputy Inspector General (DIG) of Police Manu Maharaj said.