Patna/Munger, Feb. 15: Suspected Maoists blew up a government building, abducted two railway employees and made an abortive bid to ambush a police team in three separate incidents during their 48-hour bandh that started from Sunday midnight.

The bandh was called to protest the death of Ramchandra Mahto, alias Chirag, the special area committee in-charge of CPI(Maoist)'s eastern region, in an encounter between the security forces and the rebels in Charkapaththar area of Jamui district on January 30.

The slain leader was involved in over 20 cases of Maoist violence and carried a reward of Rs 30 lakh on his head.

Reports said a group of Maoists attacked the Barhat block office in Jamui district, around 160km southeast of Patna, around midnight on Sunday and exploded the building with can bombs. The local police, however, claimed that the building was partially damaged in the blast.

Jamui superintendent of police Jayant Kant said that main door, the gate and a pillar of the block office were damaged in the explosion. A police team, comprising district police officers and Central Reserve Police Force personnel, rushed to the spot on Monday morning. A dog squad was also pressed into service to ascertain the rebels' exit route.

Residents told the visiting police team that the rebels shouted anti-state government slogans and threatened to retaliate the killing of their leader, who was in-charge of the Purvi Bihar Paschimottar Jharkhand special area committee.

The Maoists also abducted two employees from Uren under the jurisdiction of Jamalpur rail police. The victims, Sunil Kumar and Ramanuj Singh, were deployed at Uren level crossing between Jamalpur and Kiul stations and threatened with dire consequences.

Jamalpur superintendent of rail police (SRP) Umashankar Prasad said the rebels held the two gatemen captive to disrupt the movement of trains on the Jamalpur-Kiul-Bhagalpur section. The traffic on the section remained paralysed for nearly eight hours. Though the captives were released, the traffic was restored on the section around 6am on Monday.

The SRP said pilot engines escorted trains, which were stranded at different railway stations owing to the closure of railway crossings.

The main markets in Jamui's Sono, Laxmipur, Khaira and Chakai, were closed. Vehicles stayed off the road, causing great hardship to commuters.

In Aurangabad, rebels carried out a landmine explosion near Dhabi village under the jurisdiction of Dhibra police station when the security forces were engaged in search operation. However, there was no report of any casualty. Aurangabad superintendent of police Babu Ram said all police stations in Maoist-hit areas were on maximum alert.