Maoists attack BSNL, R-Com facilities in Chhattisgarh

Raipur, Dec 15 (IANS) In an overnight attack, about a 100 Maoist insurgents destroyed communication towers of telecom operators Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) and Reliance Communications (R-Com) in separate attacks in Chhattisgarh, police said Monday.

'Armed insurgents attacked BSNL communications at Kapsi in Kanker district on Sunday night and in another attack in the same locality, they set on fire a Reliance (Communications) facility,' officials based here at police headquarters told IANS.

They added that extra police forces were rushed to the Kapsi area, some 300 km south from here, to launch an offensive against insurgents.

Kanker is one of the five districts of the state's vast southern Bastar region where the banned rebels outfit, the Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist), runs a de facto administration in the forested interiors since the 1980s.

Maoists have killed over 1,100 persons in the Bastar region since 2004 including 726 civilians.