Latehar/Patna/Kokata, April 22: Striking on the
second phase poll eve, Maoists on Wednesday seized a train carrying
nearly 700 passengers in Jharkhand's Latehar district for over
four hours and bombed a BDO's office and shot a driver after
setting ablaze trucks in Bihar.
Suspected naxalites also killed three CPI-M workers in
West Bengal.
The Maoists took control of the Gomo-Mughalsarai BDM
train near Hehegarha railway station at about 7:30 AM and
released it at 11:39 AM without harming any of the passengers,
Senior Divisional Railway Manager, Dhanbad, Neeraj Ambast
said. Latehar is about 125 kms from Ranchi.
The train, with nine coaches, was packed to capacity
with about 700 passengers on board, Railway PRO in Dhanbad,
Amerendra Das said.
A block development office in Bihar's Aurangabad
district was blasted by Maoists who set ablaze eight trucks in
neighbouring Gaya where they shot dead a driver during a
24-hour bandh called by the ultras in Bihar and Jharkhand to
protest killing of their cadres by security forces.
A series of landmine blasts rocked West Bengal's Lalgarh
area, about 150 kms from Kolkata, after three CPI-M activists
were killed by suspected Maoists in adjoining Salboni region
last night in West Midnapore district.
Alarmed by the attacks, Home Secretary Madhukar Gupta
reviewed the situation at high-level meeting in New Delhi in
naxal-affected areas of Jharkhand, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh,
Orissa and Andhra Pradesh, where polling will be held on Thursday.
Gupta said to a news agency that helicopters have been station in
naxal-hit states to carry out aerial surveillance and provide
better logistical support to the security forces and launch
prompt measures to counter the Maoists.
"Appropriate security arrangements have been made. The
priority is to ensure that the polls are held smoothly and
efforts to disrupt the democratic process do not succeed," he
said after the meeting.
In widespread violence during the first phase of Lok
Sabha elections on April 16, as many as 19 security force
personnel were killed in planned attacks by the Maoists in
Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Bihar.
Referring to the Latehar train seige, A K Chandra,
CPRO, East Central Zone of the Railways, said, "The train had
been disable by disconnection of the break pipe." Security
forces, including CRPF, had moved from nearby areas of
Patratu, Bharwadi, Latehar and Daltonganj to the site
immediately after the incident, he said.
Latehar Deputy Commissioner Sarvendu Tathagat said, "The
target of the Maoists was the police....The police forces
were moving cautiously."
According to police, a group of naxalites had warned the
station master against any movement of trains during their
bandh.
Bureau Report