Striking on the second phase poll eve, Naxals 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 Naxals 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 km 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 Naxals 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 Naxals 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 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 Naxals.
