In daring attacks, CPI (Maoist) rebels blew up railway tracks, twice in less than 12 hours, blasted a portion of a block office in Jamui district
JAMUI (Bihar): In daring attacks, CPI (Maoist) rebels blew up railway tracks, twice in less than 12 hours, blasted a portion of a block office in Jamui district and damaged a railway line in adjoining Lakhisarai.
The attacks came during a 24-hour bandh called by the Maoists to protest the recent arrest and alleged police torture of its self-styled 'area commander'.
Naxalites blew up the track between Narganjo and Ghorparan railway stations under Asansol division of Eastern Railway within an hour of its reopening after repair despite the presence of a large contingent of security forces barely a kilometre away.
Scores of heavily armed Naxalites of the banned organisation triggered explosives to blast the track for the second time disrupting railway traffic on the Patna-Howrah route just an hour after it was restored at 10.30 am, railway and police sources said.
Earlier, they had blasted the up and down tracks between the two stations around 1 am causing nearly a dozen trains to remain stranded for several hours at various stations.
Asansol divisional railway manager D Deva Singh and several engineers began restoration of the tracks around 7 am with a strong RPF contingent led by its commandant M N Hoda and police personnel standing guard.
The tracks were restored around 10.30 am and two trains, Durg Express and Lalquila Express, were given the green signal to cross the repaired stretch on down and up lines respectively.
However, the Naxalites blasted the up track some distance away bringing traffic on the line to a halt once again, sources said.
In adjoining Lakhisarai district, activists of the outlawed organisation damaged the up track by exploding a bomb near Ghoghi-Bariarpur on Jamalpur-Kiul section just past midnight. An explosive planted on the down track did not explode and was defused.
Traffic on the line resumed around 9.30 am, railway sources said.
An earlier report attributed to the railway sources had said the area fell in adjoining Munger district.
Police and security forces engaged the Naxalites in a gunbattle with the police at Lakshmipur in Jamui district where they blasted a portion of the BDO's office.
A spirited fightback by the jawans of the district armed police and Special Auxiliary Police (SAP) comprising ex-servicemen, raised by the state government for counter-Naxalite operations, forced the extremists to retreat.
No casualty was reported on either side.
Reinforcements have been rushed to the affected areas and they launched a combing operation, the sources said.
The Maoists have called a 24-hour bandh in five east Bihar districts -- Jamui, Munger, Bhagalpur, Lakhisarai and Banka -- to protest the recent arrest and alleged custody torture of a self-styled 'area commander' of the organisation Kamlesh alias Deepak on July six.
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}