West Midnapore:
Maoists leader Kishanji has said there is nothing wrong in killing the four paramilitary personnel at West Midnapore on Bengal-Jharkhand border.
He says this attack was the Maoists' response to the chief minister's challenge.
"Our purpose today was to loot the arms and we were successful. This is part of our class struggle and it will continue. The chief minister is repeatedly calling us murderers and killers. The killings are a reply to that," he says.
Hours before, Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee had vowed to run the rebels out of the state.
"We wanted forces from the Centre, we've got forces. We've got intelligence inputs from the Centre and now we are ready to launch fresh operations," Buddha said.
The Naxals hit back in the evening killing four paramilitary force men who were patrolling Gidhni bazaar in the Jamboni area of West Midnapore. Maoists surrounded the jawans and opened firing, killing four on the spot. The area is bordering Lalgarh
As the four assailants overpowered the jawans and shot them, two other members of the patrol party, who were some distance away, fired back. But they could not fire indiscrimately as that the market was crowded. Taking advantage of the crowd, the assailants took away the weapons of the slain jawans.