Maoist rebels carried out a spate of attacks in eastern India Tuesday, blowing up a railway station and a wedding hall and torching over a dozen trucks and vehicles, officials said. No casualties were reported in the attacks which came on the final day of a two-day shutdown called by the rebels.
At least 20 armed Maoist rebels blew up a railway station in Orissa state's western Sundargarh district after telling railway workers to move out, local police said. They later set ablaze 15 vehicles parked near the railway station. Earlier Tuesday, the guerrillas demolished a mobile phone tower and set six trucks on fire on a highway in Jharkhand state.
In neighbouring Bihar state's Aurangabad district, some 100 armed extremists raided a village and blew up a wedding hall. Police and paramilitary forces that were on a high alert have intensified patrols on national highways and areas where Maoists are active.
The banned Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist) called a two-day strike beginning Monday in Jharkhand, Orissa, Bihar, West Bengal and Chhattisgarh to protest the arrest of two senior Maoist leaders.
Maoist guerrillas, who are active in 13 of India's 29 states, say they are fighting for the rights of the landless, poor and tribal people and are inspired by the Chinese revolutionary leader Mao Zedong. At least 562 people, including civilians, security forces personnel and rebels, were killed in Maoist-related violence in India between January 1 and July 30, according to the government.
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