PATNA, India, May 27 (Reuters) – Maoist insurgents blew up railway tracks, blocked roads and killed a policeman in eastern India on Tuesday during a day-long strike, police said.
They damaged a section of track in Bihar state, severely disrupting the eastern rail network, senior officers said.
“They bombed the tracks sometime after midnight, although the police were patrolling the area,” Bimal Kumar, a senior police officer said.
The rebels said they had called an impromptu strike to protest against the recent arrest of some of their leaders.
Guerrillas also distributed leaflets in villages and rural towns, saying civilians with no ties to the movement were being tortured by the police for information.
Thousands of people have been killed since the Maoists began their insurgency in the late 1960s in a town called Naxalbari in West Bengal state.
A policeman was abducted by the rebels in a remote village and killed, a police officer said.
Bus owners in the state capital of Patna said they had cancelled trips to remote villages due to the impromptu strike call.
The Maoists say they are fighting for the rights of poor peasants and landless labourers and routinely call strikes, attack government property and target local politicians.
Their influence has been growing and now stretches across large parts of rural eastern and southern India.
Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has called the rebels the biggest challenge to the country’s internal security.
Source: Reuters, May 27, 2008
