A court premises, community centre and mobile phone tower were attacked in Bihar along with a panchayat building in Jharkhand. The Maoists also made an abortive bid to cut off security forces' supply line in West Bengal.
Maoists exploded bombs and opened fire at a court premises in Bihar today, injuring an officer and two policemen. They also launched attacks in Jharkhand and West Bengal on the second day of the bandh called by them in five states to protest the Lalgarh action.
A panchayat building in Jharkhand and a community centre and mobile phone tower in Bihar were also blown up. An abortive bid was made to disrupt the supply line of security forces involved in the Lalgarh operation, by detonating a landmine at Chara village between Midnapore and Kirakata in West Bengal.
At least 50 armed rebels attacked the civil court premises in Lakhisarai, about 165 km from Patna, detonating bombs and opening fire. Deputy development commissioner Rajiv Ranjan and two policemen were injured in the attack. Ranjan was wounded when chunks of wood flying from a smashed window hit him, district magistrate PK Jha said, adding that Ranjan was given first aid at his residence.
The two police personnel who suffered splinter injuries were rushed to the government hospital in Lakhisarai, Jha said. The police posse posted there was outnumbered by the naxals.
The Maoists decamped with a police carbine and two rifles after breaking open a lock-up and freeing their self-styled commander, Babulal Besra of Giridih, he said.
A group of 20 armed Maoists descended on the vacant Panchayat Bhavan at around 3am and blasted it after planting explosives in the building, superintendent of police Mohit Bundus told reporters in Medininagar in Jharkhand. The roof of the panchayat building was blown off and cracks appeared in its walls as a result of the explosion, Bundu said, adding that all the furniture there was completely destroyed.
Following the blast, security personnel launched a search operation neach Chahapur, about 190km from Ranchi. Scores of CPI (Maoist) ultras swooped on Jhikatia village
in Bihar's Aurangabad district shortly after midnight and set off dynamites to blow up the community centre building, police said. However, no one was injured as the building was empty when the blast was triggered off.
The ultras blew up the tower of a private telephone company at Kharasi village in Gaya district, also around midnight. The tower, located close to the Jharkhand border, was badly damaged, police said.
The two-day bandh call was given on Sunday by naxalites in West Bengal, Jharkhand, Orissa, Bihar and Chhattisgarh. Shops and markets remained closed and vehicles kept off the roads in Maoist-affected Lalgarh, Binpur, Pirakata and Jhargram in West Bengal's West Midnapore district. Normal life was also hit in Bankura and Purulia in the state.
Official sources said patrolling along railway tracks has been intensified in Adra division of the South Eastern Railway after a landmine was detected at Birandi station.
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