Maoists blow up Rly track, SDO's office

Traffic on Patna-Howrah line was disrupted when Naxalites blasted the track between Narganjo and Ghorparan stations in Jamui at 3:20 am.

The banned CPI (Maoist) rebels on Monday, blew up a railway track in Jamui district, blasted a portion of the SDO's office and looted foodgrains from an FCI godown in adjoining Munger district during the 24-hour bandh called in five east Bihar districts.

The shutdown was called to protest the recent arrest of their five cadres.

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Traffic on Patna-Howrah line was disrupted when Naxalites blasted the up track between Narganjo and Ghorparan stations in Jamui district around 3:20 am, superintendent of railway police, Jamalpur, Vimal Kumar told PTI.

The cargo van of Poorvanchal Express, which happened to cross the breached track soon after the blast, got derailed, but no casualty was reported.

Several trains, including Howrah-Delhi Janata Express, Howrah-Danapur Express, Tata-Gorakhpur Express, Tata-Danapur Express and Amritsar-Danapur Express, were stranded at various stations, railway sources said.

The restoration work has started and it would take a few hours before normal traffic resumes, sources said.

Around the same time, over a hundred Maoists blew up a portion of the office of Kharagpur sub-divisional officer.

Though no casualty was reported as nobody was present at the time of the incident, a room of the SDO's office was completely destroyed. The Naxalites also looted several sacks of foodgrains from an adjoining FCI godown, Munger, District SP Shalin said.

The Maoists have called a 24-hour bandh since midnight to protest the arrest of their five comrades, including a member of its Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal and North Chhattisgarh Special Area Committee Sunil Marandi in Lakhisarai District on May 30.