Indian Maoists storm jail, free hundreds, kill two

PATNA, India, Monday (Reuters) Hundreds of Maoist rebels stormed a jail in eastern India, killing at least two people and freeing more than 300 prisoners, including many fellow guerrillas, police said on Monday.

Police said the rebels entered Jehanabad town in impoverished and lawless Bihar state late on Sunday night in small groups, cut off power in areas around the jail and attacked the prison. They killed one jail guard and a member of a private landlord army.

The rebels also abducted at least two dozen members of a private army of upper caste landlords who were jail inmates, police said.

Television footage on Monday showed hundreds of angry supporters of the Ranvir Sena, a private army of upper caste landlords, gathering outside the jail to protest the kidnappings.

"We have rushed reinforcements from other places to control the situation," Bihar's police chief, Ashish Ranjan Sinha, told reporters in Patna. Police and local witnesses said the Maoists made announcements during their night-time attack in Jehanabad, about 50 km (31 miles) south of Patna, the state capital, saying civilians should remain indoors and would not be harmed. Police admit they were caught unaware by the brazen strike.

"We were not anticipating an attack on the town. I thought there was more danger elsewhere," Inspector General of Police A.S. Imran told NDTV television news.

Maoist rebels, who say they fight for the rights of landless labourers and impoverished peasants, operate across large areas of south and eastern India. In Bihar, they often clash with private armies of landlords.

They have stepped up attacks in recent months. Last week, about 300 Maoists stormed a training centre for auxiliary policemen, killing five cadets, in neighbouring Jharkhand state.

India's home ministry has estimated there around about 9,300 armed Maoist rebels in the country and say they have links with Maoist insurgents in neighbouring Nepal who are fighting to overthrow the Himalayan nation's monarchy.

Meanwhile a provincial poll in of Bihar ended relatively peacefully Sunday, officials said, despite earlier shoot-on-sight orders to police amid fears of attacks by Maoist rebels.

"Polling for the third phase of the assembly elections ended peacefully with not even a single incident of major violence," said K.J. Rao, state election commissioner.

The turnout, however, was a low 40 to 45 percent despite the fact many first-time voters had lined up to cast their ballots.

"Many people I visited said they were voting for the first time," said Rao. Minor clashes in three districts between rival political groups had left 10 people injured, officials said. Some 73,000 paramilitary troopers backed by police in the eastern state had guarded the balloting in the third round of the four-phase state assembly elections, called after a February vote failed to produce a clear winner.