Rebels blow up railway tracks in Indian states

New Delhi - Rebels blew up railway tracks in India's eastern states of Orissa and Bihar, disrupting train services to enforce a general strike in the region Monday, news reports said. Guerrillas blew up the tracks near Orissa's northern industrial city of Rourkela, leading to derailment of a freight train and suspension of rail service, officials told the PTI news agency.

In Bihar, rebels blew up tracks near the Jamalpur area late Saturday night affecting several long-distance and local trains, the report said.

Railway authorities said the tracks were repaired but services would be restored later on Monday.

Maoist rebels on Sunday called for a 72-hour strike in Bihar, Jharkhand, Orissa, West Bengal and Chhattisgarh states to protest against a proposed government offensive against them.

They killed a railway labor supervisor in Bihar on Sunday, the third murder of rail personnel in the state in the past fortnight.

The rebels claim they are leading an armed rebellion to secure the rights of the poor and marginalized. They operate in some of India's poorest districts, especially forested land populated by tribal people that has seen little development.

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh called left-wing insurgency the gravest threat to internal security.

According to government data, more than 1,100 people were killed in insurgent violence in 2009.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/308033,rebels-blow-up-railway-tracks-in-indian-states.html.