JMM leader Dulal Bhuiyan visits the injured truck driver at Tata Main Hospital. Picture by Srinivas

Jamshedpur/Ranchi, Aug. 17: A 10-year-old girl was among two people killed in a Maoist attack on a passenger vehicle on NH-33 near Tamar, 70km from here, this morning. Four others, including the driver of a truck caught in the firing, sustained injuries.

While sources said the strike was an answer to an alleged fake encounter near Baranda village of Sonahatu that killed a CPI(Maoist) rebel a few days ago, the police have not confirmed it.

Bundu sub-divisional police officer (SDPO) Anand Joseph Tigga said around 9am, a group of six rebels on motorbikes, armed with self-loading rifles (SLRs) and explosives, emerged from the forests flanking the highway and swooped on a jeep, carrying eight persons, and a truck between Duwarsini and Rangaon in the Tamar area.

“The rebels, owing allegiance to the banned CPI(Maoist) lobbed country-made bombs on the truck and rained bullets on the jeep along a 500m stretch, killing two persons on the spot,” Tigga said.

While 10-year-old Gayatri Kumari, a resident of Ulilohor village in Ranchi, received a bullet, two shots killed a 25-year-old youth who is yet to be identified. Both were sitting on the front seat of the jeep, which was on its way from Raidih More in Tamar and bound for Chowka in Seraikela-Kharsawan district.

Pintu Yadav, the driver of the truck that was bringing a consignment from Delhi for a retail store in Jamshedpur, has been admitted to Tata Main Hospital with splinter injuries. His condition is said to be serious even after a marathon surgery. Three other passengers of the jeep — Gautam Seth and Sukra Seth of Bundu and Ravi Singh Munda of Chowka — are under treatment at Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences in Ranchi.

East Singhbhum superintendent of police (rural) Anup Mathews said the Maoists intercepted the jeep and fired around eight rounds from their SLRs. Officer in charge of Tamar police station E.H. Siddiqui corroborated this, saying several SLR cartridges were recovered from the spot.

Siddiqui said the rebels disappeared into the forests as suddenly as they had appeared. “By the time our men reached the spot, it was too late. They had fled towards the Gango Hills. We have launched a combing operation. Traffic flow is normal on the highway.”

According to sources, a 4km stretch between Ichagarh and Chandil police posts has always been the happy hunting ground of rebels. No patrolling is conducted in this particular area at any time of the day and it is easy to mount a sudden attack and disappear into the forests. The rebels may have targeted the truck believing it is carrying ration, they said.

Kishore Yadav, the helper of the truck who miraculously escaped unscathed, said he first suspected they were highway robbers. “They were carrying firearms. All I heard was a loud bang. Next moment Pintu was leaning on the wheel, bleeding profusely,” Kishore, who managed to steer the truck to safety, said.

This is not the first time Maoists have mounted an attack on this stretch of NH-33 connecting Ranchi with Jamshepdur. An armoured van carrying Rs 5.11 crore and 2kg of gold was looted last year. The passenger of a bus on its way to Jamshedpur was also shot dead two years ago.