Police constable shot dead by suspected Maoists in Bijapur district

A police constable was shot dead by suspected Maoists on Friday at a weekly market in Chhattisgarh's insurgency-hit Bijapur district.

Maoists, who were clad in tribal villagers' attire, orchestrated the brutal killing of the policeman, Somaram Majjhi (50), at village Karcheli. The village comes under the sprawling restive Bastar region where Maoists run have run a parallel government in the forested interiors since the late 1980s.

"Maoists murdered the policeman at a tea stall at the crowded weekly market," said Bijapur's Superintendent of Police KL Dhruv.

He said that the killing took place near a camp of the Chhattisgarh Armed Force (CAF) and several CAF men immediately rushed to the site on hearing the gunshots but the left-wing insurgents managed to mingle with the weekly market's tribal shoppers.

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