Maoists set ablaze trucks in Bihar, demand release of leaders

Jumai, Mar 23 (ANI): In protest against the arrest of their leaders, Maoists, dressed in police uniforms, damaged government property and set ablaze trucks in Bihar's Jamui District on Friday.

During their two-day strike to protest against the arrest of the top Maoist leaders, the Maoists torched mobile towers and damaged trucks.

According to the truck drivers, a band of Maoists came to their resting place at night and threatened them of dire consequences.

"At night they came and took out the oil from the truck and set the truck on fire. They asked us to leave the place. They were all in police dress and were carrying weapons," said Ram Singh, one of the truck drivers.

Another truck driver said that the Maoists held them as hostages and seized their mobile phones.

"We were sleeping and they asked us to get up. They seized our mobile phones and held us as hostages and set the truck on fire. They also threatened us," said Kalyan Mehra, another truck driver.

The Maoist insurgency has gripped nearly a third of the country in its violent tentacles, spreading into the interiors of 20 of India's 28 states.

The guerrilla war, waged mostly from the forests of central and eastern India by the Communist Party of India-Maoist, poses as the country's biggest internal security threat, say analysts. (ANI)