Maoist girls loot Patna train
Passengers of the Dhanbad-Patna Intercity Express, which was attacked by suspected Maoists near Kundhar halt in Jamui district
In a daring daytime attack on a train in Bihar, a Maoist squad comprising mostly girls on Thursday forcibly stopped the Dhanbad-Patna Intercity Express and shot dead three people — two policemen and a passenger — and injured at least six others before looting arms carried by the security personnel.
An armed squad of about 150 Maoists, comprising mostly combat-trained teenage girls, held the Patna-bound train hostage on its tracks at about 1 PM in a forested area near Jamui town, in Bihar’s southern Maoist-infested Jamui district, said East Central Railway and state police officials. In this seemingly pre-planned attack, the rebels started firing indiscriminately mainly at the passenger coaches. The terror lasted for over an hour, during which they looted the fear-struck passengers and disrupted rail traffic on the Howrah-Patna-Mughalsarai section till 3 pm, they said.
The three people killed in the firing were identified as Bihar police sub-inspector Amit Kumar, who was travelling in the train, Reserve Protection Police Force (RSPF) 5th Battalion constable and Uttarakhand resident Sukhnah Deonath and a passenger, Sharwar Alam, who was a resident of Patna.
“Six people in the train — four RPF staff and two passengers — received minor injuries in this shocking attack between the Bhalui and Kundhar halts. The injured were rushed to the nearest government hospital in Jamui and provided treatment,” said ECR chief spokesman Amitabh Prabhakar. A contingent of the anti-Naxal force CoBRA was rushed to the area soon after the attack, said Jamui district magistrate S.K. Tiwary.
Rail SP Amitabh Kumar Das, who visited the attack site, said armed cadres of the banned outfit took away the weapons of the train’s escort party and that the number of weapons lost was being ascertained. Mr Das said the attack seemed aimed at looting the arms and ammunition of the escort party.
About five hours after the Jamui attack, a group of Maoists fired at CRPF jawans patrolling a dam site in Bihar’s southern Gaya district, leaving one jawan injured in an encounter that ran for close to two hours, said police officials. The Union home ministry has sought a report on the two attacks from Bihar DGP Abhayanand, said sources.
[The injured train guard and the RPF jawan were in a serious condition, railway minister C.P. Joshi said in New Delhi, PTI reports. The passengers were safe and the train resumed its onward journey after about 75 minutes, Railway Board chairman Vinay Mittal said.
[Two CRPF companies comprising 200 personnel have been rushed to the spot to carry out a combing-cum-search operation, Jamui district magistrate Shashikant Tiwari said. The Naxals retreated into the forest after the attack, he said. The operation against the Maoists was being led by DSP Mohammed Abdullah, he said, adding bloodstains were found at various spots which pointed to injuries or casualties suffered by the Maoists. The Maoists also detonated explosives to deter the security forces from chasing them, Mr Tiwari said.]
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