Union Minister of State for Home RPN Singh has confrimed that the driver was killed in the attack.
Over 150 armed Maoists carried out a daring attack on a Patna-bound train, killing three persons, including an RPF jawan, and injuring five others in Bihar's Naxal-affected Jamui district on Thursday before looting passengers and fleeing with weapons.
"According to the latest report, firing has stopped and additional forces have rushed (to the spot)," Amir Subhani, the state's principal secretary (home), told television channel.
Media reports said nearly 100 armed Maoists had attacked the Dhanbad-Patna Intercity Express near Jamui station in Bihar.
Latest developments:
* A CRPF constable was injured in an encounter with Maoists in Bihar's Gaya district today. The encounter took place when CRPF launched a combing-cum-search operation against the ultras at Tokna and adjacent Mangrama villages in Chhatarbanda forest, CRPF DIG Chiranjeev Kumar said. The CRPF and the Maoists exchanged over 100 rounds of fire at Tokna village before the ultras retreated into the deep forest, Kumar said. CRPF CoBRA unit constable Ravishankar sustained bullet injuries during the encounter and was rushed to the hospital for treatment, he added.
* Police and railway officials said RPF jawan Sukhnath D Singh and a passenger were killed in the attack while Kumar Amit, a Patna-based Bihar police sub-inspector, was found dead in an AC coach when the Dhanbad-Patna Inter-City Express reached Keul at Lakhisarai, ECR Chief Public Relation Officer (CPRO) Amitabh Prabhakar and Lakhisarai DSP Vijay Prasad said.
* Five persons, identified as K P Singh (train guard), Manoj Kumar Singh (railway employee at Jamalpur), Dharmendra Sah (Lakhisarai), P K Tripathi (Patna) and Satish Kumar (Muzaffarpur) suffered injuries and were given treatment at Keul station, Prabhakar said adding that Manoj Kumar Singh's condition was stated to be serious.
* Around 150 Maoists forcibly stopped the train near Kunder Halt between Jamui and Mananpur railway stations, about 170 km from Patna, at 1.20pm and fired indiscriminately for about half-an-hour on the train and its passengers, Additional Director General of Police (ADG), Law and Order, S K Bharadwaj.
* According to latest reports, Union Minister of State for Home RPN Singh has confrimed that the driver was killed in the attack. He also asserted that this attack reflects on the level of desperation of the Maoist.
* Chairman of rail board confirms that the aim of the attack was to loot arms.
* Jounralists on the scene confirm that women Maoists were also part of the clan.
* The passenger train has been moved to a secure location at Keul station where an ambulance has been deployed.
* CRPF personnel has arrived on the spot and are taking charge of the situation.
* Local media is reporting that 3 people have been killed in the attack.
Past attacks by Naxalites
In May, the Maoist rebels ambushed a convoy of Congress politicians in Chhattisgarh, killing at least 19 people. Former Congress minister V.C. Shukla was injured in the attack and died this week.
In 2010, the rebels sabotaged a high-speed train in West Bengal, killing scores of passengers and injuring at least 200 people.
The rebels, also known as Naxals, have fought for decades in a wide swathe of central and eastern India, including many resource-rich regions where tensions run high between poor farmers and industrial developers.
They are estimated to number between 6,000 and 8,000 hardcore fighters in nearly a third of India's 630 districts. While they have made few inroads into cities, they have spread into rural pockets in 20 of 28 states.
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