Train services were disrupted in large parts of eastern India Sunday after suspected radical left- wing rebels blew up railway tracks and a railway station in the state of Bihar, a senior police officer said.
No one was reported killed or wounded in the attacks, said police.
Additional Director General of Police in Bihar Neel Mani told the media that around 20 armed Naxalite left-wing rebels exploded the tracks just minutes after an express train coming from eastern India's largest city Kolkata crossed the tracks in Bihar's Jamui district early this morning.
"The blast paralyzed rail traffic on the vital Patna (Bihar) to Howrah (Kolkata) main line," he said, adding railway services on the route are also affected.
"We will soon arrest the criminals," he said. The blast was the second attack since Saturday by Naxalite rebels who have been observing a general strike for the past few days.
Naxalite rebels blew up a railway station and attacked another in the eastern state of Orissa early Saturday.
More than 700 people were killed in left-wing rebel attacks in India in 2008, said government sources recently.
The radical left-wing rebels, also called the Naxalite rebels, are mainly active in the eastern states of Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Bihar and Orissa.
Officials estimate Naxalite rebels number approximately 20,000. Indian government has tagged the insurgency "the worst threat to national security".
(Xinhua News Agency March 1, 2009)