Hurt JTMM cadres taken to India for treatment

Rajbiraj, October 19:

Four cadres of the Janatantrik Terai Mukti Morcha (JTMM), who were injured in a clash with Maoists at Dalawa Chowk in Rampuramalhaniya VDC of Saptari district yesterday, were taken to India for treatment today, police said.

Other JTMM cadres took the four injured cadres to India, police said. In yesterday’s clash, some 250 rounds were fired by Maoists and JTMM cadres.

Both the Maoists and the JTMM have been making different claims. Yesterday, a district- level Maoist leader claimed that two JTMM cadres were killed in the clash. The JTMM claimed it had suffered no casualty and that several Maoists were injured.

Locals said hundreds of Maoist fighters have been mobilised in the border villages of Rampuramalhaniya, Kunauli, Belhi and Sakarpura following the clash. A local-level Maoist leader said the Maoist army has been deployed in the area to conduct search operations there.

Meanwhile, JTMM chairman Jwala Singh claimed over telephone that a Maoist cadre was killed in the clash and that JTMM cadres had the body of the killed cadre. Singh added that two JTMM cadres and three Maoist cadres were injured in the clash.