PATNA: Maoist insurgents blew up railway tracks and disrupted traffic in eastern India on Wednesday, protesting recent death sentences against five leaders, officials said. The rebels blasted tracks at two places in Bihar state and also shut down shops and blocked roads in rural strongholds. “Our men were alert and were patrolling the troubled areas, but the Maoists took advantage of the dense forest cover near the tracks,” said Shiveshwar Prasad Shukla, a senior police officer. The rebels distributed fliers warning authorities against hanging their leaders and said they would kill the judge who had passed the verdict. Their leaders were charged with mass killings two years ago. Thousands of people have been killed since the Maoists began their insurgency in the late 1960s, saying they were fighting for the rights of the poor and landless.