20 killed in clash with sandalwood smugglers in India

HYDERABAD, India: At least 20 people were killed when police opened fire on Tuesday on loggers who attacked them with axes and stones in an area of southern India known for sandalwood smuggling.
Deputy Inspector General M. Kantha Rao said his officers had opened fire “in self-defence” after challenging a group of over 100 suspected smugglers in a remote forest in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh.
A local forestry department official told AFP separately that the loggers used axes, sticks and stones to attack officers from a newly-formed anti-smuggling task force who were searching the forest.
“Our police party warned them to hand over the logs,” Rao told AFP.
“They were accompanied by forest officials as well. But the smugglers refused to hand over the logs.
“Ultimately in self-defence the police opened fire on the smugglers and found nine bodies in one position, and 11 bodies in another,” he said.
Rao, who heads the task force set up to combat the smuggling of sandalwood, said six or seven police officers had been wounded during the clash in Chittoor district.