Ranchi, July 8 (IANS) Maoists guerrillas blew up a railway station and tracks in Jharkhand Thursday, the second day of a two-day strike called to protest against the killing of one of their top leaders, an official said.
‘In two separate incidents, Maoist rebels blasted the building of Hehegara railway station and the railway tracks near Nichitpur halt,’ Amrendra Das, Public Relation Officer (PRO) of Dhanbad railway division, told IANS.
More than a dozen trains were stranded at different places due to the blasts, he said, adding that the repair work is underway to restore the rail traffic.
Around 100 to 120 Maoists attacked the Hehegara railway station around 1.45 am Thursday and carried out a blast using dynamites and explosives.
Hehegara which falls under Coal Indian Cord (CIC) railway section in Latehar district, 130 Km from Ranchi.
As a precautionary measure railway authorities have cancelled seven trains which passes through the CIC section.
In another incident, Maoists targetted the railway tracks, hitting both up and down lines near Nichitpur halt in Dhanbad district, 190 Km from Ranchi.
The CPI- Maoists called the strike Wednesday and Thursday to protest the killing of their top leader Cherukuri Rajkumar alias Azad in an alleged shootout July 2 in Andhra Pradesh. The rebels claim that police killed Azad in a staged gunfight after arresting him in Nagpur in Maharashtra.
