Maoists blow up a portion of railway track in Jharkhand's Giridih dist

Maoists blew up a stretch of railway track in Jharkhand's Giridih district in the wee hours on the third day of their 72-hour shutdown on Tuesday, affecting train services, the police said here.

The tracks were blown up under Nimiaghat police station in the district, Superintendent of Police Ravi Kant Dhan said.

"Trains on this section have been stopped on both up and down lines," Parasnath station superintendent Mrutinjaya Kumar said, adding a couple of deafening explosions were heard around 2 am.

Maoists had on Sunday called a 72-hour bandh in Bihar, Jharkhand, Orissa, West Bengal and Chhattisgarh to protest the proposed all-out offensive against them by the Centre.

They yesterday blew up railway tracks in Orissa and Bihar on the second day of their 72-hour bandh.