Top Maoist commander, 4 minors killed: The Jharkhand encounter you should know about

On late Monday night, CRPF and the police shot dead 12 suspected Maoists, including four children, in Palamu district of Jharkhand. Speaking to the media after the encounter, police Inspector-General SN Pradhan said that the Maoists were attacked while they were on their way to extort money from several mining contractors. Here’s all we know about the shootout in which top Maoist commander Anurag Yadav was killed: What happened on Tuesday morning? The encounter happened at 1 am on Monday. According to a report in The Indian Express, based on a tip-off that the Maoists were on the move in Bhalwahi village near Bakoria, barriers were set up and a police team waited for them. [caption id=“attachment_2288758” align=“alignleft” width=“380” class=" “]  Bodies of Maoists, who where killed in an encounter with the police and CRPF, in Palamu district of Jharkhand. PTI[/caption] The rebels were travelling in two SUVs and when they stopped at the barrier, the police surrounded the vehicles and told the occupants of the vehicle to surrender. While the police were able to corner one SUV, the other one escaped. Speaking to IBNLive, Jharkhand police IG A Natrajan said, “This incident happened in night. We got the information that there was some Maoist movement in the area. When we stopped their car during checking, they started firing. Then we also retaliated the firing in which 12 Naxals were killed. We will give the whole report to Jharkhand government.” Another report in The Times of India said that the Maoists started firing indiscriminately at the police after which they fired in retaliation. However, an  The Indian Express spoke to the locals who claimed that the Naxals did not retaliate against against the police and not a single police official had even been injured in the incident. A report  also noted that the SUV had 22 bullet marks, including nine at the back. However, there were no blood stains. Minors among those killed  Among the 12 ‘suspected’ Maoists killed late on Monday night, four were minors. According to this report in The Hindustan Times, the police said that the children were in ‘olive-green’ uniforms and armed. “There were four children, aged 14-15 years, among those killed in the encounter,” DGP Pandey told HT and added saying, “They are poisoning innocent minds.” “Bullet does not differentiate,” Pandey told The Indian Express. The killing of the 12 Naxals on late Monday night, while hailed as a “great success” by the Jharkhand Police, has raised many questions, especially over the killing of the four minors. Monday’s encounter was also the first major face-off between security personnel and Naxals since the Dumka attack in April last year when rebels had ambushed a police vehicle and killed six policemen. Who was killed in the attack? The police are touting the fact that they killed Anurag Yadav, alias RK alias Doctor, in the incident. The commander of a zonal committee of Maoists, RK led the a formation which was considered the strongest in Latehar, Gumla, Lohardaga and Simdega districts of Jharkhand. According to reports, Yadav was also the ‘secretary’ of south Garhwa sub-zone and led a group of 11 members all of whom were killed in the encounter. The government had announced an award of Rs 10 lakh for Yadav. Yadav was reportedly the Maoist leader who ensured that a the stomach of a CRPF official slain in a skirmish in 2013 was cut open and filled with explosives before it was kept for police to find, reports The Times of India.