Maoists blow up mobile network in Bihar
Tuesday, 19 January 2010
PATNA, (India), Jan 18 (Reuters): Maoist rebels blew up three mobile phone towers, destroyed railway tracks and forced shops to close during a day-long strike in Bihar Monday, police said.
The Maoist violence-estimated to have caused 600 to 700 deaths annually and displaced 100,000 civilians-has spread to more than 180 of the country's 602 districts and has been declared as the single biggest internal security threat.
The rebels also torched two lorries and kept cars and buses off the road in rural parts of the state to protest the arrest of a top-ranking Maoist commander over the weekend.
Police said the mobile phone towers belonged to the telecom companies Bharti Airtel and Reliance Communications.
"They (Maoists) have torched two lorries, blasted three mobile towers...," a senior police official Ranjan Kumar said by phone. "Mobile networks are badly disturbed."
The Maoist violence-estimated to have caused 600 to 700 deaths annually and displaced 100,000 civilians-has spread to more than 180 of the country's 602 districts and has been declared as the single biggest internal security threat.
The rebels also torched two lorries and kept cars and buses off the road in rural parts of the state to protest the arrest of a top-ranking Maoist commander over the weekend.
Police said the mobile phone towers belonged to the telecom companies Bharti Airtel and Reliance Communications.
"They (Maoists) have torched two lorries, blasted three mobile towers...," a senior police official Ranjan Kumar said by phone. "Mobile networks are badly disturbed."