Maoists storm toll plaza in Bihar; kill two, loot weapons

Over 200 heavily-armed naxals attacked the toll plaza at Mahapur last night by spraying bullets and hurling bombs, and gunned down a private security guard identified as Wakil Singh, DIG (Magadh range) Anupama Nilekar said.

They also shot dead a truck driver identified as Krishna Kant and injured some personnel in charge of security at the toll plaza, the officer said. The naxalites looted 16 weapons, including one rifle, 12 double-barrel guns and three regular guns, besides over 100 rounds of ammunition, from the security guards of the private Magadh Security Force.

The ultras looted cash worth around Rs three lakh. They then blew up the office of the toll plaza using dynamites before leaving the spot, the DIG said. Earlier, the Maoists targeted the Bhubaneswar-New Delhi Rajdhani Express on late Monday night by blasting a rail line in the district in which hundreds of passengers had a miraculous escape after ten coaches derailed.

Meanwhile, reinforcements from Amas police station consisting of personnel of Bihar Military Police, Special Auxiliary Police (SAP) and CPRF arrived at the area and engaged the Maoists in a gun-battle, Nilekar said. Both sides exchanged hundreds of rounds during the encounter, the DIG said.

The police suffered no casualties, but it was possible that some Maoists were either dead or injured but their colleagues carried away them under the cover of darkness, the officer said. The Maoists had called a 48-hour bandh from Monday in Bihar, Jharkhand, Orissa, West Bengal, Chhattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh and three districts of Maharashtra to protest against the 'Operation Green Hunt' launched against them.