Train services in south Odisha were disrupted after Maoists blasted the railway track between Muniguda and Munikhol in Rayagada district late on Friday night in which a railway official was injured. Reports said the Maoists triggered two explosions between 1.30 am and 4 am in the down line railway track. The blasts took place at a distance of 100 metres from the local CRPF camp.
Rayagada Superintendent of Police K Siva Subramani, along with a bomb disposal squad and sniffer dogs, rushed to the spot for investigation. Police diffused one more bomb at the blast site. The blasts damaged two pieces of sleepers on the track and caused a minor crack in the track. The police found a banner and some posters of the CPI Maoist in which left-wing ultras have protested the visit of US President Barrack Obama to India. The students of the nearby Girls’ High School were afraid to celebrate Saraswati Puja with pomp because of a fear psychosis.
Train services in the Muniguda-Ambadola route under the Sambalpur Railway Division of the East Coast Railway were disrupted following the blasts. The Bhubaneswar-bound trains coming from Raipur and Visakhapatnam were halted at the Rayagada station till reports last came in. However, railway officials said that resumption of train services would be ensured very soon. The anti-Maoist combing operation in the area was intensified to nab the ultras.