Two injured as Maoists open fire at train in West Bengal

Banstala (West Bengal), May 23 (ANI): A university student and a paramilitary operative travelling in a train were injured when Maoists opened fire on a police patrol at Banstala station in West Bengal on Saturday.

Panick gripped passengers on board the Tatanagar-bound Steel Express after hearing gunshots.

Pallab Tripathi, a university student, who was standing near the carriage door, was hit by a bullet on his leg.

The injured student. however, couldn't recollect the exact number of gunshots that he heard at the time of the incident.

" I cannot say for sure," said Tripathi.

The injured were taken to the nearby hospital.

The Maoists control large but poor areas of central and eastern India and often attack railway lines and mining operations to cripple economic activity, such as the transportation of coal to power and steel companies.

They have spread into rural pockets in 20 of India's 28 states and the movement has upset business prospects worth billions of dollars in mining industries in central and eastern India.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had termed the Maoist rebels as the country's biggest internal security threat. (ANI)