Maoists blow up regional office in Jharkhand

Palmau (Jharkhand), Dec 5(ANI): An explosion triggered by Maoists destroyed a block office in Jharkhand's Palmau district on Monday.

No casualties were reported.

The incident comes after the left-wing extremists called for a two-day nationwide shutdown in protest of the killing of their top leader, Kishenji.

Security forces killed Kishenji in the jungles of West Bengal last month.

Navel Kujur, a local police officer, said the explosion was related to the shutdown.

"Maoists have declared a shutdown for the past two days and as part of that shutdown, last night before midnight, the banned Maoists detonated a bomb in this block office, which has resulted in heavy damage to the northern part of the office," said Kujur.

An extensive amount of damage was caused to both the interior and exterior of the block office. Locals said the building would now be of little use.

"Due to this blast we don't know how long this block office will be closed, we don't know when it will start functioning. And now because of this incident, every person living in this block will suffer. We will now face a lot of problems to resolve our grievances," said Shyam, a local resident.

This is the third major Maoist strike in the state, following an attack on the convoy of independent lawmaker and former speaker of state Assembly, Inder Singh Namdhari, in Latehar district on Saturday.

Eight police officials and three civilians, including an eight-year-old boy were killed in the incident.

The left-wing extremists also blew up a railway track in Dhanbad district on Sunday. (ANI)