Maoists blow up tracks, mobile tower amid 2-day bandh
24 Aug 2009
Maoist rebels blew up a railway track in Latehar and bombed a mobile tower in neighbouring Palamu district of Jharkhand to mark the first day of a 48-hour bandh called by them in five states to protest against the arrest of two of its senior members.
While no casualties or injuries have been reported in the attacks, the prestigious Rajdhani Express had a fairly narrow escape, as it had crossed the section between Kumundi and Hehegarha in the district about an hour before the blast occurred at 6.30 am. Latehar superintendent of police Kuldeep Diwedi said the blast was not targeted at any train.
Train services were disrupted on the Barwadih-Barkakana route for about four hours following the blast. About 20 ultras were involved in the incident, which took place at a spot about 150km from the state capital of Ranchi.
In Palamu, the Maoist rebels blasted mobile a phone tower belonging to BSNL and Reliance Communications at Tukbera village of Palamau district, around 190 km from Ranchi, late Sunday night.
About 50 armed naxalites reached the site of the tower situated on Aurangabad-Medininagar route and stuffed explosives into it before blowing it up, deputy superintendent of police Brajmohan Paswan said. The blast left a big crater on the spot, about 200km from Ranchi, he added.
The banned Communist Party of India (Maoist) has called a two-day strike in five states - Jharkhand, Orissa, Bihar, West Bengal and Chhattisgarh - to protest against the arrest of Anil Kumar, a Maoist politburo member, and Kartik, a central committee member.
Maoist leader Koteshwar Rao told the BBC that the two were held on 19 August while travelling from Ranchi to Patna, capital of neighbouring Bihar state. However, a senior police officer in Ranchi denied that the arrests had been made.
The strike has reportedly affected road traffic, with buses, trucks, cars and taxis remaining off the road in Jharkhand. Maoist guerrillas virtually control 18 of the 24 districts of the mineral rich but largely backward state.