Sundargarh:
Two railway tracks have been attacked in Bihar and the Orissa-Jharkhand border by Maoists as violence continues on the second day of the 72-hour band across five states of Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Bihar, Orissa and West Bengal.
Maoists have blown up a railway track in Bhalulata in Sundargarh on the Orissa-Jharkhand border. The explosive was planted under a compartment of a goods train and the blast resulted in its derailment. Another explosive planted on the Up-line tracks was detected early this morning and has been de-fused by the bomb squad.
The accident has resulted in the cancellation of at least 8 pairs of express and mail trains on the Howrah Mumbai rail route and a large number of freight trains. The Railway earns a huge amount of revenue from freight trains in this route - especially from transportation of iron ore in this mineral rich belt.
The Howrah-Delhi line has also been targeted for the second consecutive day. Maoists have blown up a meter of the track in the Kiul-Jamalpur-Bhagalpur section in Bihar.
Maoists had killed a railway labour supervisor on Sunday, the third such murder in Sundargarh district in the last 15 days.
Maoists called the bandh on Sunday to protest the proposed 'Operation Green Hunt' to be launched by Centre against them.