Maoist bandh: Railway tracks blown up, attack toll reaches 11

The Maoists on Sunday began their two-day Bharat bandh by blowing up railway tracks in two districts of Jharkhand, even as the death toll in the Naxal attack on the convoy of independent MP and former assembly speaker Inder Singh Namdhari rose to 11.

Superintendent of Police Kuldip Diwedi said a group of Maoists used an improvised explosive device to blow up a stretch of tracks between Gomia and Dumri railway stations of the East Central Railway in Bokaro district in the small hours on Sunday.

Another group of the left wing extremists blasted tracks between Hehegara and Chhipadohar railway stations in Latehar district, police sources said in Latehar.

Hours before the bandh called to protest against the killing of top leader Kishenji in West Bengal last month, began at midnight, the ultras triggered an IED blast targeting the convoy of Namdhari, MP from Chatra, at Ladu More in Latehar district.

Namdhari, who had gone to Latehar to attend a function, narrowly escaped as the explosion occurred moments after his car passed the spot but the police escort car following him came under the impact of the explosion.

With one more policeman succumbed to his injuries late last night, the toll has increased to 11.

While an 8-year-old boy and six policemen died on the spot, one died on the way to hospital while three others succumbed to injuries at Medininagar hospital, Latehar Deputy Commissioner Rahul Purwar said.

The child was near the spot when the IED explosion took place. On Saturday, DGP G S Rath had said two civilians, including the driver of the escort car, and eight policemen were killed.

However, it was later known that the driver the car was a police department employee and not a civilian, said Latehar Superintendent of Police B D Sharma.

The two seriously injured policemen were being shifted from Medininagar hospital to Ranchi.