Two killed in police firing in West Midnapore district

Two people were killed when security forces opened fire on suspected Maoists at Kalaboni village in West Bengal's West Midnapore district late Sunday night.

A senior police officer said the incident occurred after the joint forces of central paramilitary troopers and state armed police, deployed in the area to flush out the ultras, returned the fire on facing a hail of bullets from the Kalabani jungle, where the securitymen had earlier defused a landmine and rounded up 10 suspected Maoists.

"We found the landmine in a forest close to Kalabani village on National Highway 6. After we rounded up the suspects, some of the villagers started agitating, forcing us to start a baton charge.

"These villagers then entered the village, and suddenly there was heavy firing from the forest and we retaliated. One person was injured. When we took him to the hospital he was declared dead. We saw another body also but could not remove it as the area was pitch dark," said the police officer.

Top Maoist leader Koteshwar Rao alias Kishanjee told a section of the media that the victims were innocent villagers - Kajal Mahato and Sentu Mahato.

Meanwhile, an unconfirmed report said two Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) workers were killed by suspected Maoists around 11 pm on Sunday night. Police said they had no such information.