17 People Including Congress Leader Killed In Maoist Strike

New Delhi, May 26, IRNA - At least 17 people, including senior Congress leader Mahendra Karma, were killed and former union minister V C Shukla and 19 others injured when heavily-armed Maoists ambushed a convoy of party leaders inside a dense forest in Chhattisgarh stateˈs Bastar district. The Maoists also kidnapped PCC chief Nand Kumar Patel and his son Dinesh after attacking the convoy, police said. Most of the dead and injured were Congress leaders and workers. The 84-year-old Shukla underwent an operation for the three bullets he had received in the attack. His condition was stated to be stable. Besides Karma, former Congress MP Gopal Madhavan and ex-MLA from Rajnandgaon Udya Mudaliyar were also shot dead and prominent woman tribal leader Phulo Devi Netam, Bastar, wounded by the Maoists who attacked the convoy. Meanwhile, in New Delhi, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and UPA Chairperson, Sonia Gandhi condemned the “dastardly” attack on Congress leaders and workers in Chhattisgarh and appealed to the attackers to release at the earliest all those who may have been abducted. A three-day state mourning has been declared from Sunday and all those who died in the attack will be given a state funeral. Meanwhile, The Uttar Pradesh police were put on high alert in three naxal-affected districts of the state in the wake of the Maoist attack./end