West Bengal

Suspected Maoists triggered a landmine blast on a railway track near Jhargram in West Midnapore district today, injuring two drivers of a goods train and leaving the engine of the freight train damaged.

The attack came on the second day of the two-day five-state bandh called by the Maoists and disrupted train services on the Kharagpur-Tata Nagar section of South Eastern Railway.

The incident took place at Khatkhura halt station near here when the landmine detonated as soon as the engine of the goods train passed over it.

The engine and windshield of the train were damaged by the blast which left a two-feet deep crater at the spot.The driver and the assistant driver of the freight train were injured by shards of glass.

Orissa

Maoists blew up a panchayat office building in Orissa's Malkangiri district during the 48-hour shut-down called by the rebels which affected life in five districts of the state for the second day today.

A large number of armed ultras stormed into Badigata village in Kalimela area late last night and triggered a landmine explosion to blow up the panchayat building, Inspector-in-charge of Kalimela police station D Mishra said.

Maoists, who had attacked the panchayat office about six months ago, disappeared into nearby forest raising anti-government and anti-police slogans, the police said.

The bandh, on its last day today, affected vehicular movement in Naxal-affected districts like Malkangiri, Koraput, Gajapati, Rayagada and Sundargarh, while the rest 25 of the 30 districts in Orissa remained unaffected by the shut-down.

Passenger buses and other vehicles went off the road fearing Naxal attack, leaving many people stranded at various places, police sources said adding though 17 of the 30 districts in Orissa are Maoist-hit, the bandh called by ultras evoked lukewarm response.

Shops and business establishments in rural areas of the five districts downed their shutters, while in urban centres the bandh had negligible impact on business and other activities, they said.

As a precautionary measure, the lone passenger train between Biramitrapur and Barsuan in Sundargarh district adjoining Jharkhand was cancelled, sources said.

An alert had been issued and patrolling intensified in Maoist affected areas in view of the bandh.