Suspected Maoists attack train in Bihar

Suspected Maoists attacked a passenger train in Bihar's Jamui district Thursday afternoon killing a railway police personnel and injuring half a dozen other people, police said. The Railways, however, said only two people had been injured in the incident.

Additional Director General of Police S.K. Bhardwaj said in Patna that a Railway Protection Force (RPF) personnel was killed and weapons of four of his colleagues looted by the rebels in a rare day-time attack on the Dhanbad-Patna inter-city train near Bhului halt in Jamui, some 150 km from the Bihar capital.

It appears that the motive was to loot the arms of the RPF personnel in the train, Bhardwaj said.

Railway ministry sources in New Delhi said the suspected Maoists, in a bid to snatch the weapons of the Railway Protection Force (RPF) personnel on the 1331 Dhanbad-Patna inter-city train service, opened fire at them.

They said the security personnel returned the fire and a guard and a RPF constable were injured in the cross-firing.

The train, which was detained for around one hour and 15 minutes, had since moved towards its destination and rail traffic was normal on the route, said the sources.