Alert in Bihar after Naxalite attack on police station

PATNA: An alert was sounded across Bihar on Sunday in the wake of a daring attack by the banned CPI-Maoist on a police station and a bank at Riga in Sitamarhi district.

All police stations in the districts of Sitamarhi, Darbhanga, Sheohar, East and West Champaran, Gaya, Jehanabad, Nalanda, Bhojpur, Aurangabad and Nawada, which are affected by Naxalite violence, were put on 'maximum alert' and combing operations launched, officials said.

Special attention is being paid to the Central jail in Bhagalpur and other prisons in Jehanabad, Gaya, Nawada and Bhojpur where several top leaders of the CPI-Maoist are being held.

All SSB outposts along the border have been alerted to prevent the entry of Naxalites from Nepal.

In a major strike on Sunday, some 400 armed Maoist rebels carried out simultaneous attacks on the block office, police staton and a branch of Central Bank of India in Riga.

Though the attack was repulsed, a special auxilliary police personnel was killed and a home guard was injured in the fierce gun battle between police and the rebels.

The Naxalites also blew up a bridge near Dheng before attacking the police station.