Arson in Orissa, Jharkhand as Maoists call 5-day bandh

Maoists in Orissa blow up railway building, torch trucks

Bhubaneswar: Maoist guerrillas blew up a railway building and torched at least eight vehicles in Orissa's Sundergarh district early on Tuesday, the second day of their 48-hour shutdown in five states.

A group of about 80 to 90 heavily armed rebels blew up the building at Roxy railway station, about 600 km from Orissa's capital Bhubaneshwar, after asking staffers to move out, said BC Sahu, the officer in charge of the police station in the area.

"The rebels also torched eight vehicles parked near the station," Sahu told IANS over phone.

The banned group Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist) called a two-day strike beginning on Monday in Jharkhand, Orissa, Bihar, West Bengal and Chhattisgarh to protest the arrest of two of their members.

Effect in Jharkhand

Earlier in Jharkhand's capital Ranchi, Maoist rebels blasted a mobile phone tower and set four trucks on fire in , police said on Tuesday.

According to police, Maoist guerrillas late on Monday night blasted a mobile phone tower in Lali village of Latehar district, which is around 145 km from Ranchi. Rebels also set on fire generators and other materials of the tower.

In another incident, Maoist rebels early on Tuesday set four trucks ablaze on the Ranchi-Jamshedpur national highway. One truck driver was injured.

The banned group Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist) has called a two-day strike in five states, viz Jharkhand, Orissa, Bihar, West Bengal and Chhattisgarh.

The strike call was given to protest the arrest of Anil Kumar, a CPI-Maoist politburo member and Kartik, a central committee member. The strike began on Monday.

Maoist guerrillas are active in 18 of the 24 districts of Jharkhand. Nearly 1,500 people have been killed in Maoist-related violence in the last eight years.

Little impact in West Bengal

The two-day shutdown called by the Maoists in five states beginning on Monday, to demand the release of two of its arrested members, had negligible impact in West Bengal, police said.

"The shutdown hardly (had an) impact on the normal life in three West Bengal districts of Bankura, Purulia and West Midnapore which are considered as Maoist strongholds in the state," Inspector General of Police (Law and Order) Surajit Kar Purakayastha said.

The Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist) called for shutdown in West Bengal, Bihar, Orissa, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh to demand release of two of its members arrested by Bihar Police on August 19.

The police officer said so far there has been no untoward incident in any part of West Bengal.

The Maoist leadership said that two members of their party were arrested near Patna while they were travelling in a train.