Maoists take passengers train hostage

Ahead of the second phase poll on Thursday, Maoists struck at four different places in Bihar and Jharkhand on late Tuesday night. In one of the incidents, Maoist rebels hijacked a local passenger train with over 400 passengers on board in the Latehar district of Jharkhand.

Around 200 Maoist rebels took control of the Barkana to Mughalsarai train at Hehegada railway station in the wee hours on Wednesday. Reportedly they have also blown up a railway track. Additional forces have been rushed to the spot.

'We have dispatched forces to rescue the train and ensure safe release of the passengers,' Latehar Deputy Commissioner of Police Sarvendu Tathagat told IANS on phone.

The Maoists have called for a shut-down in Jharkhand on Wednesday in protest against the death of five people in the state in firing by security forces.

Early on Wednesday, suspected Maoists killed a truck driver and set ablaze nine trucks in Bihar’s Gaya district and bombed a block office in Aurangabad district.

As per reports, 100 heavily armed Naxals stopped the trucks on gunpoint on the busy Grand Trunk Road near Barachatti at around 12.30 am and torched nine of the vehicles. A truck driver named Lakshman Yadav was shot dead while trying to escape with his truck.

Eighteen people, including 10 security personnel, were killed in Maoist attacks in four states during the first phase of polls on April 16.

- Agency Input