Chhattisgarh police arrest 16 Maoists

RAIPUR - At least 16 members of the outlawed Communist Party of India-Maoist were arrested Thursday from Chhattisgarh’s restive Bastar region, police said.

The rebels were described as low-ranked cadre of the CPI-Maoist. They were picked up from the interior Mader area of Bijapur district, about 500 km south of state capital Raipur.

The rebels had fallen into a police trap. They were involved in attacks on government properties in recent months in Bijapur and in the recent killing of member of the civil militia movement, Salwa Judum, in Bhopalpatnam locality in the same district, an official at the police headquarters told IANS.

Chhattisgarh has become the nerve centre of Maoists in recent years and in the past three years the state has witnessed 1,948 attacks by the Leftist ultras in which 418 civilians and 435 policemen, including 75 Special Police Officers (SPOs), were killed.