Six persons, including two Central Industrial Security Force personnel, were killed and six others injured when Naxals launched attacks on a CISF picket at Khasmahal coal project in Bokaro district and a police station, a senior police official said on Saturday.
Two CISF personnel received fatal bullet wounds in the attack on Friday night on the picket near the project under Gandhi Nagar police station of the district, Superintendent of Police Priya Dubey said, adding that four civilians died when the Maoists fired at Kurpania Bazaar nearby.
Two other CISF jawans and four other civilians were injured in the attack.
The Maoists, who exploded landmines at several places to create panic in the area, also tried to storm the Gandhi Nagar police station but the police repulsed their move. Both the security personnel and the Maoists traded several rounds of bullets.
A cleaner of a dumper was injured when a separate group of extremists exploded a landmine in an attempt to blow up a bridge leading to Khasmahal to stop police movement.
Soon after the attack, the Bokaro SP rushed to the spot with reinforcements. The encounter lasted till the early hours. The injured were being treated at a nearby hospital.
The police said at least five extremists received bullet wounds but their fate was not known as their associates took them away.
The Naxalites looted four SLR weapons, the sources added.
The Pilpilo-Kurpania bridge suffered extensive damage following a landmine blast by the Maoists. About three hundred Naxalites, including women cadres of the proscribed outfit, took part in the attack.
According to Inspector General of Police B B Pradhan, additional reinforcements from Jharkhand armed police and district armed police stationed near Dhanbad and Hazaribag had rushed to spot.
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