Maoists blow up railway tracks on the second day of 72-hour shutdown

JHARKHAND/ ORISSA/ BIHAR/ WEST BENGAL - Maoists blew up two railway tracks on the second day of the 72-hour shutdown call given by them on Sunday across the four states of Jharkhand, Orissa, Bihar and West Bengal.

A railway track has been blown up in Bhalulata in Sundargarh on the Orissa-Jharkhand border. The explosive was planted under a compartment of a goods train and the blast resulted in its derailment.

Another explosive that was planted on the Up-line tracks was detected and de-fused by the bomb squad early on Monday morning.

At least eight pairs of express and mail trains, and a large number of freight trains have been cancelled following the accident.

Maoists also blew up a meter of the track in the Kiul-Jamalpur-Bhagalpur section in Bihar, thereby targetting the Howrah-Delhi route for the second consecutive day.

Earlier on Sunday, a railway official was killed and a railway track was blown up near Narganjo in Bihar.

Two other railway tracks on the Delhi-Howrah route were also damaged on Sunday affecting train services between Howrah and Delhi.

There were also reports of a railway supervisor being killed on the Jharkhand-Orissa border.

West Bengal has been put on a state of high alert after Maoists killed a CPM leader near Veerbhum on Sunday.

Several trains were cancelled and a few trains including the Ranchi Rajdhani Express were diverted on Sunday to avoid untoward incidents.

All four states are on high alert ahead of the shutdown and extra vigilance is being maintained by police stations in the Naxal-affected districts.

Additional forces of Special Auxiliary Police, Bihar Military Police and central para-military forces have also been deployed.

The shutdown has been called to protest against joint police operations in the four states. (ANI)