Naxals raid train; loot arms, cash

ibnlive.com

Posted Sunday , December 10, 2006 at 14:55


TRAIN RAIDERS: The rebels seized a passenger train on West Bengal-Jharkhand border.


New Delhi: Armed Maoist rebels on Sunday seized a passenger train on the West Bengal-Jharkhand border on Sunday morning, but abandoned it after some time, reports reaching here said.


According to Railway sources, the Naxals boarded 246 Tatanagar-Kharagpur passenger train at 1030 hrs (IST) and attacked the guards. The militants seized the rifles and wireless equipment of the guards and then fled.


The Maoists after hijacking the train hid in nearby areas holding out threats to blow it up. They, however, gave up as additional police reached the scene.


Agency reports quoted East Singhbhum Deputy Superintendent of Police S P Burnwal as saying that said tracks were being searched as Maoists might have planted bombs there.



He said the Maoists, who had boarded the train as passengers, snatched two rifles from RPF jawans and a walkie talkie set from the driver. They informed the Chakukulia Station Master about the incident and gave description of the attackers.


Some panic-stricken passengers jumped off the train and ran towards Chakulia station. Before fleeing, they also took away Rs 1 lakh, which was transported as salary of the Railway staff, he said.


Unconfirmed reports said an RPF jawan was beaten up by the attackers and was hospitalised. There were no reports of any other casualty so far.


The incident occurred in a dense forest area between Gidni and Chakulia stations, 76 km off Howrah.


Movement of trains on the section had been disrupted, a South-Eastern Railway spokesman said. A similar incident of train hijack by the Maoists was reported last year on Adra-Chkaradharpur section of the South Eastern railway.

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Flexing muscles in their strongholds, suspected Maoists on Sunday captured a passenger train and held it for over two hours in a forest close to Jharkhand-West Bengal border.

While another group of ultra-Left activists set on fire a train engine near Nagpur.

A group of about 25 to 30 armed rebels, believed to be Maoists, overpowered two RPF guards after forcing the driver to stop the Tata-Kharagpur train near Kanuhahali.

They looted the two rifles from RPF men and the walkie-talkie from the driver, Superintendent of Police (Railway) Priya Dubey said.

A sum of about Rs one lakh in the train's safe, meant for paying the salaries of railway employees, was in the custody of authorities, said Dubey, who rushed to the spot.

The rebels assaulted the RPF personnel who were admitted to Chakulia railway hospital, she said.

Weapons looted

Police forces were dispatched from Jamshedpur when the injured RPF personnel informed police about the incident after reaching Chakulia station.

Dubey said the rebels did not make any demand after stopping the train between Chakulia and Kharagpur stations. They did not threaten to blow up the train as their sole motive was to loot weapons, she said.

Panicked passengers scrambled out of the train after the rebels struck at around 10.30 am.

The train resumed its journey at around 2.25 pm after a thorough search of the tracks for explosive devices that might have been planted by the rebels, police said.

On the western front, suspected members of Peoples' War Group (PWG) torched the engine of a goods train after asking the crew to get off between Darekasi and Bortalao in Nagpur division of South-Eastern Central Railway.

Past attacks

Naxals have targeted the railway system in the past.

On January 25 this year, they blew up a track in Paraiya in Gaya. On April 3, they blew up a railway post in Nadaul in Jehanabad and a week later, they bombed a police post in Bansinala.

On April 25, they attacked Nargango railway station near Jhanjah and the next day they destroyed rail tracks in Dasrathpur in Munger. (With PTI inputs)