Maoist violence hits eastern India ahead of poll date (2nd Roundup)

Apr 22, 2009, 12:12 GMT

   New Delhi - Maoist rebels went on a rampage in the eastern part of India, hijacking a train, blowing up buildings, setting vehicles ablaze and triggering landmine blasts on Wednesday, a day ahead of the second phase of India's month-long general elections, news reports and officials said.

   Around 200 Maoist rebels seized a train carrying between 400 to 700 passengers near the Hehegeda railway station in Latehar district of the eastern state of Jharkhand early on Wednesday.

   They released it four hours later, avoiding a confrontation with security forces, and retreated into the jungles.

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

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

   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.

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

   The train hijacking came amid a spate of attacks carried out by Maoists in Bihar and Jharkhand to enforce their shutdown. Maoist violence was also reported from the eastern state of West Bengal.

   The militants killed a truck driver, set fire to nine trucks and bombed a government office in Bihar early Wednesday, the IANS news agency reported.

   Over 100 armed Maoists stopped the trucks at gun-point in the southern Gaya district and torched the vehicles. A truck driver was shot dead while trying to escape with his truck.

   Rebels also planted bombs at a polling station in Bihar that were later defused by security forces, the NDTV network reported.

   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.

   Later on Wednesday, Maoists triggered four landmine blasts targeting the police in the Salboni area of West Bengal, the IANS reported. However, no one was injured in the explosions.

   Police said the blasts occurred when some policemen had gone to fetch bodies of political workers who were killed by the Maoists Monday.

   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.

   West Bengal will see voting on April 30.

   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.