Maoist rebels free hijacked train in India (Roundup)

Apr 22, 2009, 8:40 GMT

   New Delhi - Maoist rebels seized a train carrying several hundred passengers in the eastern Indian state of Jharkhand on Wednesday, but released it hours later and avoided a confrontation with security forces, news reports said.

   Around 200 militants took over the train early Wednesday near the Hehegada railway station in a remote area in Latehar district, a day ahead of the second phase of India's month-long general elections.

   They freed the train carrying between 400 to 700 passengers after four hours and retreated into the jungles, the reports said.

   'The train has been released by Maoists and has moved from the station,' senior district official Sarvendu Tathagat told IANS news agency.

   'Nobody was harmed at any point of time and all passengers are perfectly safe,' AK Chandra, a spokesman for the Indian Railways said.

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

   State officials said the Maoists had hijacked the train to protest the railways for running services despite the shutdown declared in the state.

   Police told the NDTV news channel that the Maoists said they had no plan to cause harm and it was a 'symbolic attack.'

   The train hijacking followed five attacks carried out by the Maoists in the two states since Tuesday evening to enforce their shutdown.

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

   The militants also killed a truck driver, set fire to nine trucks and bombed a government office in Bihar early Wednesday. Rebels also planted bombs at a polling station in Bihar that were later defused by security forces.

   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 insurgents on the April 16 opening day of the India general elections.

   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 voting.

   The left-wing insurgency, which Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has called India's 'biggest security challenge,' has killed at least 600 people in the past year alone.