Insurgent violence rises in eastern India

New Delhi - Parts of eastern Indian states Orissa and Bihar were tense Monday as Maoist militants carried out a series of attacks targeting state-owned transport and facilities, news reports said. The rebels torched four passenger buses and triggered explosions to destroy a communication tower and a forest department office in parts of southern Orissa, ahead of their statewide shutdown Monday to protest "police excesses," the PTI news agency reported.

Armed guerrillas forced passengers off public buses in Gajapati district around midnight before setting the vehicles ablaze.

They also blew up a forest department office and mobile tower in the Malkangiri district.

The militants blocked roads at different places in the districts by felling trees on the roads, the IANS news agency reported. Police and the local administration was placed on high alert in the region fearing further attacks.

Rebels also blew up a state-run school in Bihar's Aurangabad district on Sunday morning, police said.

Maoist rebels claim they are leading an armed rebellion to secure the rights of India's poor and marginalized and operate in some of the poorest regions in the country.

Insurgents are active in 20 of India's 28 states and have been described by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh as the gravest internal security threat facing India.

More than 2,700 people including civilians, security personnel and rebels have been killed in the insurgency since 2006, according to the Home Ministry.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/301188,insurgent-violence-rises-in-eastern-india.html.