Train services hit after Maoist attack in Jharkhand

Train services on the Gomoh-Barkakana section of East Central Railway were disrupted after Maoists set ablaze Dumri Bihar Railway station, an engine and valuable railway equipment, the police today said.

The incident happened within East Central Railway's Dhanbad division in Bokaro district last night, the police said.

Around 100 Maoists laced with firearms arrived at the station, forced the employees to leave and then they burnt the station, an engine of a goods train and valuable railway equipment kept at the station, railway sources said.

They also took the engine driver's walkie-talkie before they fled the scene, sources said.

Therefore rail services between Gomoh-Barkakana section were disrupted. Trains such as Gomo-Barkakana Passenger, Ahmedabad-Howrah Express, Jabalpur-Howrah Shaktipunj Express were stranded for several hours, sources said.

The DIG (Bokaro) Saket Kumar Singh along with Superintendent of Police Y S Ramesh and Divisional Railway Manager (Dhanbad) rushed to the spot to investigate the incident.

YS Ramesh said all the possible routes used by Maoists to move around were sealed. In addition, a massive search operation was launched to track down them.

Ramesh said the ultras had plan to trigger a blast and had planted 40 can bombs in a series to cause damage to the security personnel.

But the security personnel defused the bomb after getting a confidential information in this regard, he said.
An encounter between the Maoists and security personnel also took place in a jungle near Dumri Bihar, he added.

Train services on the Gomoh-Barkakana section were restored today.