Maoists release train hostages

RANCHI – Maoist rebels in India briefly took hostage more than 300 passengers on a train yesterday, police said, as the insurgents stepped up attacks during the country’s general elections.

At least 200 armed rebels swooped on the train at a station in the insurgency-hit eastern state of Jharkhand, and held the passengers for about four hours.
The Maoists, who say they are fighting for the rights of neglected tribal people and landless farmers, have launched a series of assaults in an apparent attempt to disrupt India’s April 16-May 13 polls.
They had called a general strike in the area and have previously used violence to enforce their call for all businesses to stay closed and for people to remain in their homes during the strike.
The train was held in Latehar district, which went to the polls last week in the first phase of the elections, with further voting in the state to be held today.
‘The train has been released by the Maoists. All the passengers are safe,’ senior police officer Sarvendu Thatagat told AFP. ‘The rebels had seized train demanding why the service was operating when the strike was on.’
Latehar was hit by the Maoists during voting last Thursday when a landmine exploded under a bus carrying paramilitary forces to a polling booth in the district, located 140 kms from the state capital Ranchi.
Seven soldiers and two civilians were killed in that attack.
India’s Maoist insurgency, which grew out of a peasant uprising in 1967, has been active in more than half of the country’s 29 states. The rebels, who have been described by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh as a serious threat to national security, use the forests of Chhattisgarh state – which borders on Jharkhand – as their base.
Railway spokesman AK Chandra told the NDTV news channel that there had no contact with the train as the rebels had cut communication links during the hostage-taking.
Indian television reported that as many as 700 people had been on board.
Helicopters flew overhead as security forces rushed to the scene, but the Maoists retreated before any rescue operation was launched, police said.
– Nampa-Sapa