RANCHI (India), Oct 27: At least 18 people, among them a former minister’s son, were killed overnight when Maoist rebels opened fire on a group of football spectators in Jharkhand.

Between 30 and 40 heavily armed rebels stormed a village around midnight and opened fire on about 150 people gathered there after a match to watch a local cultural performance, police said.

“Seventeen persons have been killed in the attack,” district police superintendent Arun Kumar Singh told AFP. One man died later of a bullet wound, taking the toll to 18, police said, adding that a three-year-old was among the three remaining wounded.

“Intensive combing operations are going on,” Mr Singh said, adding that the border with Bihar had been sealed to prevent rebels from fleeing there.

The night’s entertainment was organised by the brother of former chief minister Babu Lal Marandi, whose son Anup Marandi was in Chilkhari village for the match.

“The police personnel deployed left the place after the football match,” said Mr Singh. “They should have stayed.”

The attackers, several of them women, wore fatigues similar to those used by India’s anti-terror paramilitary forces and gradually surrounded the unsuspecting crowd before opening fire, witnesses said.

Former chief minister Marandi flew on Saturday to the village and spoke to reporters before he left. “The government seems to have no idea how to get out of this situation. It is getting worse,” said a calm Mr Marandi. “The Maoists have no faith in democracy. They have concentrated in the areas where there is no development, no streets, no electricity. If we want to solve this problem, we have to move development in those areas.” Marandi’s family members have organised sports and entertainment events in remote areas in a bid to encourage villagers not to support the rebels.

The former chief minister said his brother and son “should have been more careful”. His brother said he narrowly dodged a bullet that hit another villager in the eye and fled several kilometres before calling the police. “I saved my life by squeezing amongst the villagers and I escaped,” said Nunu Lal Marandi. “I had informed police about the program and sought security. But no proper security arrangements were made.”—AFP