Maoists blow up road bridge, blast railway tracks (Roundup)

KOLKATA/RAIPUR/BHUBANESWAR - Maoist guerrillas blew up a road bridge, disrupted train services by triggering a blast alongside railway tracks, and fought gun battles with the security forces on day one of their 48-hour shutdown in six states Monday.

The shutdown has been called in Bihar, Jharkhand, Orissa, West Bengal, Chhattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh, and in three districts of Maharashtra - Bhandara, Chandrapur and Gadchiroli - to protest the security forces’ ongoing Operation Green Hunt against the ultras.

Train movement in West Bengal’s West Midnapore district was disrupted for about ten hours when Maoists triggered the blast early Monday between Midnapore and Godapiayasal stations on a branch line of the South Eastern Railway (SER) connecting Kharagpur and Bankura and Purulia districts.

“The driver of a goods train heard an explosion at Bhalukkhunia in the wee hours. He also saw some banners and flags and informed the authorities. Though the tracks was not damaged, all movement on the line has been suspended as a precautionary measure,” SER Chief Public Relations Officer Soumitra Majumdar told IANS.

The Government Railway Police and Railway Protection Force personnel recovered some wires and Maoist posters.

The Maoists also felled trees to set up road blockades in some areas of West Midnapore, while vehicular movement between Midnapore and Lalgarh was halted after the discovery of a landmine at Salboni.

Over 20 Maoists raided the Bagjhappa village in Jhargram sub-division of the district and set ablaze a Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) office late Sunday night.

In Jharkhand, the Left wing rebels exploded a land mine to damage a road bridge connecting Musaboni and Dumaria in Ghatshila sub-division of East Singhbhum district Sunday night, police said.

The Maoists fought gun battles with police at three separate locations in their stronghold Bastar region of Chattisgarh. A gun battle broke out in Bastar district’s Mardum area when armed guerrillas opened fire on a joint contingent of the district force and the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF).

Bastar Superintendent of Police P. Sundaraj claimed that four guerrillas were killed in the gun battle but sources at the police headquarters here said police failed to recover a single body of the ultras though three rebels were captured with some arms and ammunition.

Two other gun battles between the police and the Maoists were reported from forested stretches of Narayanpur and Bijapur districts, respectively.

In Orissa, bus services were hit in several districts. Government buses, especially those plying long distances, were off the road in Gajapati district. Vehicular movement was also hit in some areas of Maoist-infested Rayagada and Malkanagiri districts as Maoists blocked roads by felling trees.

In Sundargarh district, vehicular movement on National Highway 215 and train services were hit. The extremists blocked the road by placing stone blocks on it, while a land mine was recovered near Roxy station, hitting rail services on the route.

The security forces arrested a rebel during a combing operation from Topadihi’s forested area of Sundergarh district.

Train services were also affected in Bihar, with the Railways cancelling eight trains and diverting seven others in view of the shutdown.