Maoists blow up railway tracks in Jharkhand, 13 trains cancelled

Members of the banned CPI (Maoist) blew up a portion of railway tracks in Jharkhand’s West Singhbhum district, disrupting train services on the Howrah-Mumbai route for several hours, police said on Friday. At least 13 trains were cancelled and one has been diverted due to the incident, a railway official said. The incident occurred late Thursday night in the Chakradharpur division of South Eastern Railway between Mahadevsal and Posoita stations, around 150 km from the state capital Ranchi, West Singhbhum Superintendent of Police Ashutosh Sekhar said. “Security has been tightened in the locality. The repair work on the railway tracks has been started from early morning,” he said, adding that Maoists also put up banners and posters in the area. @@@