Three TDP workers hacked to death in Anantapur

Unidentified people hacked three people, including a woman, to death near Mamilapalli in Dharmavaram mandal of Anantapur district, about 450 km from here. Anantapur, bordering Karnataka is a part of Rayalaseema region, notorious for factional killings.

According to police, the assailants in a car intercepted the TDP workers riding a motorbike. They attacked them with sickles and other sharp-edged weapons. They, however, spared the life of a three-month-old girl accompanying the victims.

The slain workers have been identified as Narasimhulu, Anjaneyulu and Padmavati, all belonging to one family.

Police suspect it to be a case of factional feud. Factional violence in the backward and drought-prone Rayalaseema region has claimed over 500 lives during the last 15 years. These factions, supported either by Congress or by TDP, fight for domination in villages.