Maoists torch mobile phone tower in Bihar

Jehanabad, Nov 10 (UNI) Heavily armed Maoist guerrillas set fire to a mobile phone transmission tower at Rampur village in neighbouring Arwal district late last night in a bid to destroy communication facilities in the area.

Police today said a group of about 20 armed Maoists attacked the tower, which belonged to a private cellular phone service provider, and overpowered the guard and the operator before dumping them in a nearby panchayat building.

Later, they set ablaze the tower as well as its air-conditioned transmission room, damaging those severely.

The extremists also shouted pro-Naxal slogans while escaping into the dark after the operation.

An FIR had been lodged on the basis of the statement of the guard and the operator, while raids were on to nab the extremists.

Incidentally, this was the seventh such incident in Bihar during the past few months when the Naxalites destroyed the transmission towers to snap communication facilities through mobile phones in the extremist-dominated districts.

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