Naxal rebels claim responsibility for train collision in E. India
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India's extreme left-wing Naxal rebels have claimed responsibility for the sabotage on the railway tracks which led to a collision between an express train and a freight train in the eastern Indian state of West Bengal in the wee hours Friday, which killed 65 people, a senior police official said.
"The Naxalites' People's Committee against Police Atrocities ( PCPA) has left two posters near the rail tracks clearly owning responsibility for the derailment of the Kurla-bound Gyaneswari Express," Inspector General of Police (Law and Order) Surajit Pur Kayastha told the media.
He quoted the posters as saying: "We earlier demanded withdrawal of the joint security forces from Jangalmahal (West Midnapore, Bankura and Purulia) ..., but those demands were not met."
At least 65 people were killed and over 200 others were injured when a freight train hit an express train after the latter derailed following a sabotage of the railway tracks in the eastern Indian state of West Bengal early Friday morning, said police.
The incident happened at 01:30 a.m. when the Mumbai-bound Howrah-Kurla Lokmanya Tilak Gyaneshwari Super Deluxe Express was running between the Khemasoli and Sardiya stations near Jhargram area in the state.
Earlier West Bengal Police chief Bhupinder Singh told the media in state capital Kolkata that the Naxalites were behind the incident.
"We suspect the hand of Naxalites as a section of the rail track was found missing and fishplates were loosened," he said, adding that posters of Naxalite organizations have been found at the site.
