Kolkata: Two days after killing over 40 policemen and civilians in Chhattisgarh's Dantewada district, the Naxals have struck again, this time in West Bengal, by blowing up a rail track on Wednesday.
Naxals triggered a landmine blast at around 2.00 am on Wednesday between Gidhni and Khathura stations damaging a goods train running between Tatanagar and Howrah in the Jhargram police station area near Village Khatpora.
The train was damaged, and the driver and assistant driver of the train have been injured.
According to Soumitra Majumdar, PRO, South Eastern Railways, seven long distance trains have been left stranded at different stations on the route. Many trains have also been diverted.
"The locomotive of the goods train has been damaged. The blast occurred at 2 am on Wednesday morning. The security clearance was received by the security agency on Wednesday morning and the restoration work started soon after. We will soon be restoring the train services through one line. The other one will work in another couple of hours. Ahmedabad Express has been diverted through Midnapore while Purushottam Express has also been diverted through that route," said Majumdar.
"There have been no casualties. The driver has minor injuries and the assistant driver has been taken to the Jhargram hospital. The area is prone to Naxal attacks. There have been other instances too here. We have been liaisoning with the security agencies on the district level and the state level," he added.
Railways and security officials have reached the spot. Work is currently on to repair the rail tracks.
Naxals had threatened to blow up railway tracks near Gaya in Bihar following which services were halted on the Gaya-Mughalsarai route, but were later resumed.
In February 2009, Naxals attacked the Howrah-Delhi route and in March, the Bhubaneshwar-New Delhi route. On Febuary 6 they had blown up Howrah-Delhi route, similarly on March 23 the rebels damaged railways tracks on Bhubaneshwar-New Delhi route. Passengers of Bhubaneshwar-New Delhi Rajdhani Express had a miraculous escape 10 coaches and the engine of the train derailed near Gaya.
Naxals have called for a five-day bandh in the states of Bihar, West Bengal, Jharkhand, Orissa and Chhattisgarh starting Tuesday to protest against Operation Green Hunt launched by the Government to neutralise their threat.
(With inputs from Sougata Mukhopadhyay)
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