Maoists blow up Bihar school ahead of polls

In a bid to create terror and panic ahead of the polls, Maoists blew up a government middle school at Lakhisarai district in Bihar on early Thursday, just as the state was going to polls, the local police said.

The police have also recovered three live cane bombs from the site. Armed guerrillas used high-grade explosives to blow up the school in Narotampur under Kajra police station in Lakhisarai, a Maoiast affected district.

"The attack was to create panic before the polls in the neighbouring Jamui parliamentary constituency," district police officials said.

In the last five years, 153 schools have borne the brunt of Maoists attack in different parts of the state. According to police records, since 2011,173 rural schools have been targeted by Maoists in Gaya, Aurangabad, Sasaram, Kaimur, Jamui, Banka, Muzaffarpur, Sheohar and East Champaran districts of the state. 

Bihar police additional director general, Law and order S K Bhardawaj told rediff.com  that schools are soft targets as they are against the security forces using their buildings for constructing official shelters. An official of education department said that in the ongoing Lok Sabha polls, about 7,000 schools in Bihar will be used for the purpose.

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