Maoists blow up school in Jharkhand

Police personnel seen patrolling in deserted streets of Khunti, Jharkahnd as Maoists called for a 72-hour bandh since Sunday.Photo: Manob Chowdhury

Maoists blew up a high school building in Khunti district of Jharkhand on the last day of their 72-hour shutdown to protest the proposed all-out offensive against them by the Centre.

A group of armed Maoists reached the Project High School late last night at Sodeh village, packed explosives before blowing up the two-storey building, Superintendent of Police A.B. Minz told reporters here on Tuesday.

The school was functioning in the old building after the Maoists had blasted the new structure in November last year.

Railway tracks blown up

Maoists blew up a stretch of railway track in Jharkhand’s Giridih district in the wee hours on Tuesday.

The tracks were blown up under Nimiaghat police station in the district, Superintendent of Police Ravi Kant Dhan said.

“Trains on this section have been stopped on both up and down lines,” Parasnath station superintendent Mrutinjaya Kumar said, adding a couple of deafening explosions were heard around 2 a.m.

They blew up railway tracks in Orissa and Bihar on the second day of their 72-hour bandh yesterday.

The Maoists had on Sunday called the 72-hour bandh in Bihar, Jharkhand, Orissa, West Bengal and Chhattisgarh.