Naxalites shot dead four policemen and blew up tracks at two places in Bihar's Lakhisarai district early Tuesday morning, police said.
Scores of Naxalites, belonging to the banned Communist Party of India (Maoist) swooped on a camp of Bihar Military Police at Khaira village at around 1 am, shot dead four policemen and wounded three others, police said.
The Naxalites looted one carbine, three self-loading rifles and ammunition. Before retreating, the naxalites blew up the BMP camp building and then set on fire whatever of it was left standing, sources said.
They said about 200 rounds of fire were exchanged between the police and Maoists during the encounter, which lasted for about three hours.
The deceased have been identified as havildar Shamsul Hoda, havildar Mangru Oraon and jawans Shyamakant Yadav and Baleshwa Tudu.
Meanwhile, a large number of policemen, led by the secretary of Bihar Policemen's Association (Lakhisarai unit) secretary Sanjay Tiwari, were not allowing the bodies of their slain colleagues to be lifted for post-mortem examination demanding that the Inpsector General of Munger zone visit the site.
Talking to media persons, Tiwari alleged that 'sheer indifference and callousness' of the police brass had led to the incident.
He claimed no wireless set was installed at the camp despite repeated requests to the authorities.
The Maoist guerrillas also blasted the railway track near the eastern cabin of Dhanauri station, about 20 km from Lakhisarai, on Kiul-Jamalpur section of Eastern Railway, DIG (Railway) Ajay Verma told PTI.
They fired and exploded bombs to scare away the railway staff before blasting the track in a stretch of about two metre. They also uprooted the track at Urain station in a stretch of about 10 metre.
Several trains, including Tinsukia Express, Vikramshila Express, Danapur-Sahebganj Inter-city Express, Danapur-Bhagalpur Inter-city Express and Upper India Express were stranded at various stations due to the blasting of tracks, railway sources said.
