Maoists take hundreds of train passengers hostage (1st Lead)

Apr 22, 2009, 6:54 GMT

   New Delhi - Maoist militants seized a passenger train in the eastern Indian state of Jharkhand and took hundreds of passengers hostage Wednesday, a day ahead of the second phase of India's monthlong general elections.

   The approximately 700 passengers were unhurt, the NDTV news channel reported, citing railway authorities. Other media reports, however, gave varying figures of the people on board, estimating 75 to 400 passengers were being held hostage.

   Around 200 Maoist fighters took over the train early Wednesday in the eastern district of Latehar, the NDTV report said.

   'We are not aware about the exact number of passengers held hostage, but they are perfectly safe, and nobody has been put to harm,' AK Chandra, a spokesman for the Indian Railways, told the news channel.

   He said security forces had been dispatched to seek the return of the train and ensure the safe release of its passengers.

   Police sources told local media that an aerial survey of the area would be undertaken by helicopters before an operation to rescue the passengers is launched.

   The Maoist rebels, who have called for a boycott of the Indian general elections, have declared a 24-hour shutdown in Jharkhand and the neighbouring state of Bihar on Wednesday.

   The militants have carried out five major attacks in the two states since Tuesday evening to enforce their shutdown.

   During one attack in Jharkhand, the rebels blew up a train station just before an express train was due to pass it. In another attack in the same state, guerrillas blew up a school Tuesday night.

   The militants also killed a truck driver and set ablaze nine trucks besides bombing a government office in Bihar early Wednesday, police told the IANS news agency.

   The second phase of polling on Thursday is the biggest phase of the staggered elections with states such as Bihar, Jharkhand, Orissa and Andhra Pradesh, which have been affected by the Maoist insurgency, going to the polls.

   At least 17 people, including security personnel, were killed in a spate of attacks by the Maoists on the opening day of the elections on April 16.

   Maoist rebels, who claim to be fighting for landless farmers and neglected tribal people, operate in 13 of India's 29 states and have attacked government installations in the run-up to the five-phased voting.

   The left-wing insurgency, which has been termed India's 'biggest security challenge' by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, has left at least 600 people dead in the past year.