MALAPPURAM: Five days after two Maoist leaders were shot dead in a bloody encounter, a seven-member gang of people said to be Naxalites, was sighted at a colony of forest dwellers in Nilambur, about five km from the encounter site, on Tuesday.
The armed team, allegedly including CPI (Maoist) south zonal committee member Vikram Gowda, Soman and Sundari, reportedly resurfaced at Cholanaiykar colony at Mannala, near Karimbuzha, Nilambur.
Confirming their presence, the anti-Naxal squad at the Nilambur forest said the insurgents had visited the area in the night on Monday, and had vowed to take revenge over the killings of their two leaders, Devaraj and Ajitha .
Police said the gang told colony dwellers that they would regroup and give a fitting reply to the government and the police when an opportunity came up. They said the deaths of Kuppu Devaraj and Ajitha would not weaken them and that they would retaliate with weapons.
The Maoist team revealed that no one was injured in the police attack, and sought the support of the tribesmen to begin an armed revolution against the government, the police said.
The gang spent about two hours in the area before returning to the woods with rice and other essential commodities from the tribal area. The police said high alerts had been issued to forest stations following the report.