Monday, November 14 2005 11:09 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Jehanabad: The death toll in last night's (Nov 13, 2005) naxalite attack and police retaliation in Jehanabad today (Nov 14, 2005) rose to three with the recovery of the body of a suspected extremist.

Meanwhile, Bihar police and central para-military forces mounted a manhunt to apprehend the Communist Party of India - Maoist (CPI-M) guerrillas who, in a daring operation set free a large number of their comrades and kidnapped activists of the banned upper caste militia, the Ranvir Sena.

Official sources said a leader of the Ranvir Sena Bade Sharma and a sentry posted at the overcrowded jail, Durga Rajak were shot dead by the CPI(Maoist) rebels, while the body of a suspected naxalite was recovered under a bridge on Darda river near the town police station.

Five persons, including two warders, a havildar and a cook of the jail were wounded in the naxalite operation and have been admitted to Jehanabad Sadar hospital.

341 of the jail's 600 odd prisoners, including Ajay Kanu, State Secretary of the proscribed CPI(Maoist) and several other cadres of the outfit were set free and around twelve men of the Ranvir Sena, which is locked in a bloody feud with the ultra-left organisation for the last several years, have been kidnapped.

Pamphlets left by the Naxalites at the jail which were recovered by the police said 'Operation Jailbreak' was deliberately made to coincide with the great November 13 Russian revolution and its aim was to 'rescue the comrades and to award death penalty to select Ranvir Sena activists' lodged in the jail.

Nearly a thousand Naxalites armed with weapons like self-loading rifles and machine guns and clad in police uniform, launched near simultaneous assaults on the police lines, jail and a CRPF camp located in the heart of the South Bihar town around 9 pm.

The entire town reverberated with sounds of gunfire and bomb explosions for nearly two hours as Naxalites commanded the civilians on public address system not to venture out of their houses saying they had no enmity with them and that they wanted to teach the police a lesson.

Amid the gunbattle, some of the militants scaled the wall of the jail and then opened its gates from inside before breaking open the locks of different wards to free their comrades and kidnap their rival Ranvir Sena men.

State Home Secretary H C Sirohi and IG (Central Zone) A S Nimbran admitted there were intelligence inputs about a possible attack by the Maoist rebels.

However, the magnitude of the naxalite offensive came as surprise as they had chosen to lie low despite giving a call for boycott of Bihar elections.

The underground rebels chose November 13 for the attack as a large chunk of state's police force and central para-military forces were busy holding the third phase of assembly elections, Sirohi said.

The naxalites, who had virtually taken control of all entry and exit points of the town, exploded a series of bombs in front of the District Collectorate, residence of the District Judge and local S S College where a CRPF camp has been set up due to location of the strong room where electronic voting machines used during assembly elections are kept.

The CRPF contingent posted at the S S College retaliated forcing the militants to retreat leaving behind a 20 kg live bomb and a looted police rifle.

The extremists were learnt to have looted around 18 rifles and ammunition from the jail staff.

Two live bombs were also found lying in front of the residence of the District Judge.

A stunned town, which had a sleepless night, was out in the streets since early morning.

Hundreds of curious onlookers and anxious relatives of the inmates thronged the jail. Many of them were seen climbing the low outer wall and mingling freely with the inmates who appeared to have stayed back of their own accord as total chaos still prevailed on the campus with nobody caring to ask them to go to their respective wards.

Tin shards and other debris ripped from the nearby shops littered the street in front of the jail due to powerful bomb explosions.

This is the second major operation by the underground organisation since the June 23 attack at Madhuban in East Champaran district.

The CPI (Maoist) guerrillas joined by the rebels from Nepal had targetted nine places, including two banks, Madhuban block office, police station and the residence and market complex owned by Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) Lok Sabha member Sitaram Singh.

A bank guard was killed in the operation but the naxalites had suffered major reverses while retreating as 22 of their cadres were killed in police operation.

The Maoist rebels had also killed the Superintendent of Police of Munger, K C Surendra Babu and five constables at Bhimbandh in a landmine blast in January this year.