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Armed gang attacks shops in Mayyanad: four persons injured

Staff Reporter

KOLLAM: Panic gripped the Koottikada area of Mayyanad town near here on Thursday night following a sudden attack by a gang of more than 30 armed men. Four shop owners who were brutally attacked were admitted to the District Hospital here.

The condition of one of them is said to be serious.

The attack began at 9 p.m. and shops were the main targets of attack. Those hospitalised were Subairkutty, Hussein, Kunjumon and Sumesh.

The gang carried swords and crude weapons. Shop owners and others who passed that way at that time were hacked or brutally beaten up.

Within 15 minutes, the attackers vandalised more than a dozen shops and attacked an equal number of persons. A police team led by Superintendent of Police S. Gopinath and Dy.SP T. Regunathan Nair came to the scene.

But by then the attackers vanished without leaving a trace.

The police said mystery shrouds the attack. On Wednesday night, a gang attacked those inside the Sharada Vilasam Library at Venpalakara near Koottikada.

The police suspect National Development Front (NDF) activists to be behind the attack. Those attacked in the library were CPI(M) supporters. The police also suspect Thursday night's attack to be connected with the attack in the library. But the library office-bearers said that no one connected with the library was behind the attack.

The police said though the gang comprised more than 30 men, none of them could be identified by anyone at Koottikada.

It showed that the whole gang could have been brought in for the purpose from a distant place and the gang left soon after their mission was over. The police said that if those connected with the library were really not behind the attack, then there was a possibility that the NDF could be behind Thursday night's attack.

The police started an investigation into the attack. An uneasy calm prevailed at Koottikada.

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