Maoists blow up a portion of rail track in Jharkhand

Maoists blew up a stretch of railway track in Jharkhand’s Giridih district in the wee hours on the third day of their 72-hour shutdown today, affecting train services, the police said here.

The tracks were blown up under Nimiaghat police station in the district, Superintendent of Police Ravi Kant Dhan said.

“Trains on this section have been stopped on both up and down lines,” Parasnath station superintendent Mrutinjaya Kumar said, adding a couple of deafening explosions were heard around 2 a.m.

Maoists had on Sunday called a 72-hour bandh in Bihar, Jharkhand, Orissa, West Bengal and Chhattisgarh to protest the proposed all-out offensive against them by the Centre.

They yesterday blew up railway tracks in Orissa and Bihar on the second day of their 72-hour bandh.

Maoists trigger explosion in Howrah-Mumbai train route

Suspected Maoists blew away a portion of railway tracks in the wee hours on Monday near here causing derailment of a goods train and disruption of train services on the Howrah-Mumbai route.

A portion of the railway track at a place between Bhalulata and Jareikela, about 30 km from here, was blown up by suspected Maoists at 1 am leading to derailment of two wagons of a goods train, Rourkela railway station manager S.K. Panda told PTI.

However, there have been no reports of injury or casualty in the incident.

Following the blast, all trains on the Howrah-Mumbai route have been held up at different stations, Panda said, adding that explosives might also have been planted on the up-line of the route.

Maoists had called a 72-hour bandh on Sunday in Bihar, Jharkhand, Orissa, West Bengal and Chhattisgarh to protest against a proposed all-out offensive “Operation Green Hunt” against them by the Centre.