Maoists blow up rail tracks, school building in Jharkhand (Second Lead)

RANCHI - Maoist rebels blew up railway tracks at two places in Jharkhand’s Giridih district early Tuesday and blasted a school building in Khuti district, police said.

“Maoist rebels blew up railway tracks at two places which come under Coal Indian Cord (CIC) sections. In the first incident, Maoist rebels blew up a railway track near the east cabin of Parasnath railway station. In the blast, six meters of the track was damaged. In the second incident, Maoists blew up railway tracks between Chaudharybandh and Karmabad railway stations of the same district,” Amrendra Das, public relations officer (PRO) of Dhanbad railway division, told IANS.

Road and railway services have been badly affected in Jharkhand. Railway authorities have cancelled seven trains and six train services have been diverted. More than 3,000 buses in Jharkhand were stranded and no long route buses were operational.

Das said: “Repair work is underway. Railway services will resume soon”.

Giridih is around 190 km from Ranchi.

In another incident, Maoist rebels blew up a high school situated in Sodeh village of Khuti district, around 70 km from Ranchi. Maoist rebels blew up the school building by using explosives and detonators. The building was badly damaged, but no one was injured.

The banned Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist) has called a three-day strike in four states - Jharkhand, Bihar, Orissa and West Bengal - to protest the proposed offensive against them known as Green Hunt.