NEW DELHI (CNN) -- A Maoist strike in eastern India over the recent killing of a top rebel leader received mixed response on the first of the two-day shutdown, authorities said Sunday.
In mineral-rich Jharkhand state, shops were shut and traffic stayed off the roads in rural areas, according to police.
Cities functioned normally though, said Jharkhand police spokesman R.K. Mallik.
A day before the Maoist shutdown, at least 10 police guards were killed in a bomb attack, suspected to be carried out by the left-wing insurgents. The attack Saturday targeted the motorcade of a federal lawmaker in Jharkhand's Latehar district, Mallik added. The parliamentarian, Inder Singh Namdhari, was safe, he said.
In neighboring Bihar, no major incidents happened, except for attacks on two cell-phone towers, on Sunday, state police spokesman S.K. Bhardwaj said.
And village-council elections in Bihar were held Sunday without trouble even in Maoist strongholds, he claimed.
The impact of the strike in West Bengal was also mixed, according to Prasanjit Dey, an officer at the state's police control room.
Traffic movement and business were affected in at least three state districts, he said.
"But there is no report of any untoward incident today," Dey added.
Indian security forces were believed to have shot dead a top Maoist leader, Koteshwar Rao alias Kishenji, on November 24.
The rebel strike was in protest over Kishenji's killing, which is being investigated now over allegations the gun battle was faked.
"(The) government has never encouraged fake encounters or killing of persons after they are apprehended by security forces," Indian home minister P. Chidambaram told reporters on November 30, referring to the disputed shootout that troops said led to the death of the Maoist fighter in a thick forest of eastern India.
The Indian government regards the communist rebels as its gravest internal security threat.
"Left-wing extremism is the most violent movement in the country," Chidambaram said at a police conference in September.
The Maoists, officials say, aim to seize power through an armed liberation struggle.
Chidambaram acknowledged that there has been no significant decline in Maoist violence in several states.
Since the 1960s, the rebels have said they are fighting for the dispossessed.
Authorities suspect Maoists enjoy support not only in the poorest areas and in tribal communities, but also among youth and intellectuals.
In addition to targeting police, alleged police informers and people the Maoists call "class enemies," the insurgents also are believed to be attacking infrastructures such as roads, bridges, railways, and power and telecommunication networks.
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