New Delhi, June 25: Senior intelligence officials in the capital have voiced doubts over the involvement of Maoists from Nepal in Thursday’s daylight attack on a small border hamlet that left several people dead.

Bihar police claimed the assault by several hundred rebels, who targeted two banks, a post office, a police station and the houses of a Rashtriya Janata Dal MP from Sheohar and his aides, was a joint operation by Indian and Nepali Maoists.

The Nepali Maoists have denied any role in the incident in a statement put out by spokesman Krishna Bahadur Mahara, adds PTI.

More than seven people are believed to have been killed and several lakhs of rupees looted in the strike on Madhuban, about 40 km from the border, in East Champaran district.

But government sources in Delhi said so far there was nothing to suggest the involvement of Maoists from Nepal. “Only a foolish leadership will get involved in joint raids with its counterparts across the border,” a senior intelligence official said.

The sources said there are several reasons why the intelligence establishment in Delhi is sceptical. First, the posters found in the district were all in Hindi. Second, the literature seized were either in Maithili or in Bhojpuri, which indicates the raid was carried out by the CPI (Maoist) ? the new group formed after the merger of the Maoist Communist Centre and the People’s War.

Third, most of the attackers ? who were in separate groups ? headed for Sheohar after the raid and not towards the north for Nepal.

The Mongoloid features of at least two of the slain militants suggested they were from Nepal. But sources said people with similar features were not uncommon on the Indian side.

A woman who was killed in the police firing as the rebels fled was earlier thought to be a Nepali Maoist. But she was later identified as a local person.

“So far, there is nothing to show that Maoists of Nepal were involved in this attack,” a senior official in Delhi said.

He argued that at a time when they are under pressure from the Royal Nepal Army, it would be politically suicidal for Nepali Maoists to agree to a joint raid with their counterparts as the rebels take shelter in bordering Indian areas.

A few days ago, five Maoists from Nepal were arrested from a nursing home in Darbhanga where they were admitted after being injured in a firing by the RNA.

“Their arrest clearly shows that Maoists from Nepal continue to use the bordering states for shelter and treatment. We see no reason why they should get involved in a joint raid and jeopardise their position,” the senior official added.