Over 150 armed Maoists carried out a daring attack on a Patna-bound train, killing three persons, including an RPF jawan and, two others killed by Naxals and injuring five others in the Naxal-infested Jamui district of Bihar before looting passengers and fleeing with weapons.
Police and railway officials said RPF jawan Sukhnath D Singh and a passenger were killed in the attack while Kumar Amit, while a Patna-based Bihar police sub-inspector, was found dead in an AC coach when the Dhanbad-Patna Inter-city Express reached Keul at Lakhisarai, Eastern Central Railway chief spokesperson and the area DSP of Lakhisarai Vijay Prasad said.
Meanwhile, reports from Maharashtra’s Gadchiroli area said, the Naxals killed the Vice-president of steel-maker Lloyd Metals Jaspal Singh Dhillon (60) and two others.The incident took place in Etapalli tehsil of Gadchiroli district of Maharashtra, police said. The other two victims were identified as Mallikarjun Reddy from Hemlata Minerals, a subsidiary of Lloyd Metals, and village police official Raju Sadaphad from Surjagad. In the railway attack, five persons suffered injuries and were given treatment at the Keul station.
Around 150 Maoists forcibly stopped the train near Kunder Halt between Jamui and Mananpur railway stations, about 170 km from Patna, at 1320 hrs and fired indiscriminately for about half-an-hour on the train and its passengers, the police said. The Maoists also looted weapons from two RPF personnel and later let the train go towards its onward journey. It can be noted that this is the first daring attempt in less than three weeks after the Maoists ambushed a Congress rally on May 25 in Bastar district of Chhattisgrah, killing as many 28 people, including the top Congress leaders in the state.
Two companies of CRPF have rushed to the spot to carry out a combing-cum-search operation against the Maoists who retreated into the forest after carrying out the daring daylight attack on the train. The Maoists also detonated explosives to deter the security forces from chasing them.
