RAIPUR, INDIA: A policeman from India’s armed border force opened fire on his colleagues on Wednesday, killing five of them before turning the gun on himself, police said.
According to sources, he was identified as Constable Musudul Rehman of the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (IPBP) who opened fire on his comrades in Chhattisgarh, a central state long plagued by a left-wing insurgency.
“He later shot himself after shooting seven personnel,” according to a statement issued by the ITBP.
The two injured were being airlifted to state capital Raipur.
Chhattisgarh is rich in minerals and among India’s most impoverished states. Maoist rebels have been fighting in the region for decades for greater rights over land and resources.
Tens of thousands of soldiers, rebels and others have been killed there since the 1960S. The government has positioned thousands of police and special commandos in an attempt to eradicate the groups.
There have been over 300 suicides in the Indian military and a series of so-called “fratricide” incidents since 2016, giving rise to government initiatives including counsellors, help lines and yoga.
Separately the military said that four soldiers were killed in Indian-administered Kashmir on Tuesday, three of which died in an avalanche and a fourth who died in a blizzard.
Two others died on Saturday in an avalanche some 4,500 metres (18,000 feet) up on the Siachen glacier, a disputed territory of Pakistan and known as the world’s highest militarised zone.
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