Bhagalpur, Dec. 17: Maoist guerrillas shot dead a mukhiya (village head) under Chakai block and blew up a gover-nment middle school building under Sono block today in Jamui district.

Superintendent of police (Jamui) Ram Narayan Singh said over 100 rebels, armed with sophisticated weapons, raided the middle school at Sarkanda, a remote village bordering Giridih district in Jharkhand, under Charkapatthar police and demolished the two-storey building around 2am.

“We are yet to ascertain why the rebels carried out the attack. Why don’t they understand that such activities will only stall the basic edu-cation of the poor rural children?” the SP told The Telegraph over phone.

The residents of Sarkanda village said the police had used the school building for two days in the first week of November for during a search operation to locate 14 abducted labourers of a private construction com-pany.

The police have recovered the JCB machine used by the Maoists to blow up the building and several posters from the area. The posters justified the Maoists’ actions and urged the government to stop using schools for setting up police camps.

In another incident, the rebels shot dead Lal Mohan Yadav, the mukhiya of Thari Panchyat under Chandramandi police station in Chakai block. around 10am.

“Police forces from Chakai and Chandramandi have rushed to the spot and we are awaiting reports from them,” Singh said.