Midnapore (WB): A landmine explosion and sporadic clashes between joint security forces and tribal activists in West Midnapore district marked the first day of the Maoist-sponsored indefinite bandh in the tribal-inhabited districts of West Bengal on Tuesday.
The landmine exploded at Birkara village on the Lalgarh-Salboni border near where the joint forces were patrolling, SDO P Ulganathan said. However, no one was injured in the incident.
One person has been arrested as the forces started an operation against the Maoists, he added.
Meanwhile, activists of the People's Committee against Police Atrocities, a tribal organisation, clashed with the joint forces at adjacent Madhupur in West Midnapore district, police said, adding that nobody was injured.
The Maoists called an indefinite bandh in West Midnapore, Bankura and Purulia districts demanding withdrawal of security forces from Lalgarh, reopening of schools where the forces have set up camps and release of the arrested.
Normal life was disrupted in the tribal areas as there was no transport on the roads.
Twenty-three CPI-M members and another person have been killed and eight others, including two policemen, missing since the anti-Maoist operation began on June 19.
Bandh supporters set ablaze four trucks on Jhargram-Bankura road at Ataria near Binpur in West Midnapore district.
The police said they had stopped eight trucks carrying goods from Jhargram to Bankura. Bandh supporters later set fire to four of them, the police said.
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