Silchar, Oct. 26 -- A suspected Maoist leader allegedly linked to a recent blast on a railway track in Kokrajhar district of Assam was killed in a police encounter on Saturday, officials said. According to Kokrajhar senior superintendent of police (SSP) Pushpraj Singh, the encounter took place in the Nandangiri area of Salakati in Kokrajhar during the early hours of Saturday. The deceased, identified as Ipil Murmu alias Rohit Murmu, sustained severe injuries during the exchange of fire. The SSP said that a search operation was launched on Friday night after receiving information about the presence of Maoists in the region. "....We located them in the hilly area of Nandangiri. They were in a group and suddenly attacked the police with firearms. Our team retaliated, and the others fled the area," Singh said. "We found one injured person who later died during treatment at a government hospital." A suspected Improvised Explosive Device (IED) blast had damaged nearly two feet of railway track in Kokrajhar on Thursday. The explosion took place around 12.57am, prompting an immediate investigation by local authorities....