Maoists blast rail track in Orissa

October 14th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Having given up urban warfare a long time ago, Maoist guerrillas have taken to destroying the country's infrastructure in rural and outlying areas with a vengeance, officials say. Frequent attacks on mobile telephone towers, small railway stations and power plants as well as electricity generators are worrying the government and the private sector.

October 12th, 2009 PATNA - Maoist guerrillas attacked a railway station, set ablaze a cabin room, blasted a rail track, a government office and a mobile phone tower in different parts of Bihar to enforce their strike, officials said Tuesday. Armed Maoists Monday night attacked Banshipur railway station in Lakhisarai, about 150 km from here, ransacked its office and set it ablaze.

October 2nd, 2009 RANCHI - Maoist rebels on Tuesday blew up a railway track between the Dania and the Jogeshwar railway stations under Dhanbad Division of East Central Railway in Jharkhand. The powerful explosion damaged about one-metre of the track, which led to disruption of rail traffic for over 11 hours.

September 11th, 2009 BHUBANESWAR - Five railway employees, abducted by Maoist rebels Thursday in Orissa's Sundergarh district are still missing, their family members said Friday. Maoists had abducted Topadiha's railway station master N.N.

September 10th, 2009 BHUBANESWAR - Maoist guerrillas blew up railway tracks and triggered blasts at several places in Sundergarh district of Orissa and also abducted five railway employees, police said Thursday. Around 20 Maoists abducted five railway employees, including the station master, from the Topadiha station in the district early Thursday, said Diptesh Pattnaik, the superintendent of police of Rourkela.

September 7th, 2009 BHUBANESWAR - Three Maoist rebels were arrested in Orissa Monday in two separate incidents, police said. "Mala Madakami, who claims to be the area commander of Vansadhara division of the outlawed Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist), was arrested during a combing operation by police in the southern district of Malkangiri," a police officer said.

August 21st, 2009 BHUBANESWAR - Maoist rebels have threatened to blow up the residence of Orissa Finance Minister Prafulla Ghadei and kill his son, police said Friday. The letter was received at the office of Orissa Mining Corporation at Jajpur Thursday.

August 20th, 2009 BHUBANESWAR - Maoists Thursday blew up a forest range office in Orissa's Sundergarh district, police said. About 30 rebels, in two vehicles, came to the office at Tamra under the Banki police station around 2 p.m.

August 17th, 2009 BHUBANESWAR - Maoists in Orissa have threatened to kill a top district police official for allegedly arresting innocent people after branding them as rebels, an official said Monday. The outlawed Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist) said in a press release that its rebels would kill some police officials posted in Rayagada district, including the District Superintendent of Police Ashish Kumar Singh.

August 12th, 2009 BHUBANESWAR - At least three Maoists were killed Wednesday in a gunfight with police in Orissa's Rayagada district, officials said. A joint team of Orissa and Andhra Pradesh police fatally shot the militants in a forested area under Chandili police station, about 45 km from the district headquarter of Rayagada, Ashish Kumar Singh, district superintendent of police, told IANS.

July 30th, 2009 BHUBANESWAR - Suspected Maoists killed two policemen in Keonjhar district of Orissa on Thursday. The bodies of Assistant Sub-Inspector Muralidhar Bastia and home guard Hadibandhu Mahanta were found near Brahmanipal police outpost, where they were posted.

June 26th, 2009 BHUBANESWAR - Orissa Chief Minister Navin Patnaik has said that he will discuss with Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram about the state's needs to check Maoists activities.

June 18th, 2009 BHUBANESWAR - Maoists triggered a land mine blast in a forested area of Orissa's Koraput district in the early hours of Thursday, police said. "They (the rebels) have triggered a blast on a road under Narayanpatna block," Deepak Kumar, district superintendent of police told IANS.

May 15th, 2009 BHUBANESWAR - At least eight people were injured in Orissa's Malkangiri district when a bomb planted by Maoists in a field went off Friday, police said. The incident took place near MPV 26 village, some 660 km from here, in a groundnut field.

February 15th, 2009 BHUBANESWAR - At least 12 security personnel were hurt Monday when their vehicle was blown up by a landmine blast triggered by Maoist rebels in Orissa’s Gajapati district, police said. The landmine went off when the vehicle carrying the personnel of the Special Operations Group (SOG) was passing next to a hill near Andheri village in Gajapati, some 470 km from here.