Bihar: Heavily armed MCC (Maoist Communist Centre) rebels attacked the Simrahni police picket in Bihar's West Champaran district late last night (July 13, 2004) and looted a huge cache of arms and ammunition after injuring two policemen, official sources said today.

The activists of the outlawed outfit raided the picket in Ramnagar block close to the Indo-Nepal border around midnight and, after an encounter that lasted for over two hours, looted seven self-loading rifles, five 303 rifles, two carbines, one stengun and one wireless set, besides a huge quantity of ammunition.

Before leaving, they blasted the picket with dynamites. A havildar of the Bihar Military Police (BMP) Rameshwar Sharma and jawan Nakdeshwar Pandey were injured in the encounter and were hospitalised in a serious condition. Raids are on to nab the ultras, the sources said.