Security men escape Maoist poster bomb
By IANSWednesday, July 7, 2010
RANCHI - Security personnel had a narrow escape when Maoists used a poster bomb in Jharkhand on the first day of a two-day strike called by them to protest against the killing of one of their top leaders.
A police team saw Maoist posters near Rani jungle in Simdega district, around 110 km from Ranchi.
The poster was hanging on two bamboos. When the policemen tried to remove the bamboos, the bomb blasted, creating a crater of one metre. No one was injured.
A live landmine was also recovered at the same place.
The Maoist strike affected road, railway services and mining activities in Jharkhand. Seven trains were cancelled and five were diverted.
“Seven trains have been cancelled and the routes of five trains have been diverted in view of the Maoist strike,” a railway official told IANS.
The cancelled trains include Palamau Express, Barwadih-Dehri Asansol Express, Tata-Kharagpur Express and Chakradharpur-Gomo Express.
The trains whose routes have been diverted include Howrah-Jabalpur Shaktipunj Express, Howrah Varanasi Intercity Express and Tata-Jammu Tawi Express.
The national highways wear deserted and no long route buses plied. The mining activities and coal transportation were also affected due to the strike.
Maoists called the strike to protest the killing of their leader Cherukuri Rajkumar alias Azad in an alleged shootout July 2 in Andhra Pradesh.
The rebels claim that the police killed Azad in a staged gunfight after arresting him in Nagpur in Maharashtra.
