Following their call for a 24-hour nationwide lockdown, Maoist rebels struck again in Bihar's Gaya district on Monday when two security personnel from a bomb disposal squad were killed while defusing a powerful can bomb planted by the Naxals on the premises of the district's Bankebazaar block.
Earlier in the day, 10 coaches of a goods train derailed in Muzaffarpur district after Naxals dynamited a railway track near the Kurhani railway station on the Hajipur-Muzaffarpur section of East Central Railway.
The incidents come on the eve of polling for 35 constituencies spread across eight districts in the fifth phase of the Legislative Assembly polls.
The deceased personnel, identified as Vijay Kumar and Jai Chand Prasad, were members of a Bihar Military Police (BMP) battalion.
Terming the incident as “highly unfortunate,” Bihar DGP Neelmani said the bomb went off accidentally while it was being defused.
Two State Auxiliary Police (SAP) personnel and two members of a local television news channel were also injured in the incident.
Mr. Neelmani said the injured SAP personnel were in a critical condition and undergoing treatment at the Gaya Medical College.
The journalists sustained injuries while recording the bomb disposal process. They were brought to Patna in an Indian Air Force helicopter, where they are currently undergoing treatment at the Patna Medical College Hospital.
Following the blast, senior police officials rushed to Gaya to monitor the operation against the extremists. Sources said the shutdown call by the Naxals ostensibly comes to register protest against U.S. President Barack Obama's visit, while also calling for boycotting the Bihar polls.
The derailment of the goods train caused a disruption in rail services since 3 a.m. Trains were diverted from Hajipur to Muzaffarpur via the Sahpur-Patori station.
Mr. Neelmani said rail traffic was restored only after the bomb disposal squad conducted a thorough checking of the tracks between Ismailpur and Rafiganj stations and confirmed that no more explosives were found along the line.
Besides blowing up the Bankebazaar block building, the Naxals torched four trucks in the early hours of the day besides attacking a Central forces camp in Magra village, which falls under Gaya's Dumaria police station.
The encounter began on late Sunday night and continued for several hours.
Police sources said that while there was heavy retaliation from both sides, there were no reports of any casualties.
The rebels also blasted two mobile towers at Madanpur and Rafiganj in Aurangabad district late on Sunday night.
Aurangabad, another Maoist hotbed, goes to the polls in the sixth phase.
Polling time curtailed
Expecting similar disturbances, the Election Commission on Sunday issued a notification curtailing polling time by two hours in the four Naxal-affected constituencies of Paliganj, Masaurhi, Bikram and Phulwarisharif.
Polling in these four constituencies will now take place from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m.
