8 Indian Police Shot Dead in Ambush

Eight policemen have been shot dead in India after being ambushed when they went to arrest an alleged murderer, officials said on Friday.

At least seven other people were wounded in the night-time attack in a village in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh.

HC Awasthi, Chief of the State Police, told reporters that the suspect "had the support of the entire village as he was firing from several rooftops."

Prasant Kumar, another senior police officer, said the attackers, who had blocked the entrance to the village with the excavator, appeared to have been armed with semi-automatic weapons.

"It was a planned attack," Kumar told reporters.

Media reports said the perpetrator has a lengthy criminal background, including the attempted assassination of a senator and Minister of State in 2001, and was arrested for another 60 offences.

His gang, believed to be about seven or eight, left the village after the attack, and a large operation was underway on Friday to track them down, the police said.

Source: BSS