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In a pre-dawn attack, heavily armed Maoists blew up a railway station and abducted three railway employees in Orissa's Sundargarh district, about 80 km from Rourkela on Tuesday.
More than 20 ultras stormed into Roxy railway station, located in a remote area under the jurisdiction of K Bolang police station, in the early hours and triggered the explosion after asking the employees to move out, police sources said.
The rebels also abducted three people including the station master, besides setting ablaze about 15 heavy vehicles parked near the small railway station used mainly for iron ore transportation, the police said.
The station is used for transporting iron ore to Rourkela Steel Plant.
Tension prevailed and panic spread among the people in the entire district after the attack on the railway station. Although a police station housing the Central Reserve Police Force has been set up in K Bolang area, the police took a long time to reach the spot, locals alleged.
In another incident on Monday, Maoists blasted a community hall at Irki in Bihar's Aurangabad district. About 100 ultras raided the village and detonated dynamite to blow up the building, Additional Director General of Police (HQ) Neelmani said.
The Maoists0 called a 48-hour bandh on Monday in Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Orissa and Chattisgarh to protest the arrest of their leaders Anil and Kartik.
Neelmani denied the arrests of Anil and Kartik in Bihar.
The police have intensified patrolling on national highways, the ADG said, adding that most private operators had suspended bus services from Patna to Ranchi, Hazaribagh, Jamshedpur, Daltonganj, Bokaro in Jharkhand.
Several trains passing through Bihar from Jharkhand and West Bengal were running behind schedule, railway sources said.