Maoist rebels seize two Italian men in India

Bhubaneshwar: Maoist rebels have abducted two Italian men in a poor eastern Indian state and demanded that the state government stop all anti-Maoist operations in return for their release, police and the rebels said yesterday.

The two men were abducted late on Saturday while they were on a trek in the popular tourist resort of Daringibadi in Kandamal, said Orissa state official U.N. Behera.

Orissa police chief Manmohan Praharaj said police had information that Maoists had abducted the men in Kandamal district, but he did not give any other details.

One of the abducted men is known to have been living for the past 12 years in Puri, a coastal town in Orissa, where he was running an adventure tourism agency.

Police in Kandamal identified the men as Paulo Bosusco and Claudio Colangelo, but did not give any other details. Local television channels received a videotape yesterday in which the leader of the Maoists in Orissa, Sabyasachi Panda, demanded that the state government stop all armed operations against the rebels.

The men would be released only after the Orissa government conceded to their demands for the release from prison of Maoist fighters, the disbanding of all police and paramilitary soldier camps and a ceasing of anti-Maoist action in the state, Panda said in the tape.

Television channel NDTV said the men were abducted when they were taking photographs of local tribal women bathing in a river. There was no way to independently confirm that account.

Inspired by Chinese revolutionary leader Mao Zedong, the rebels have been fighting in several Indian states for more than four decades demanding land and jobs for farmers and the poor.

The rebels are active in Orissa, one of India's poorest states. In the past, the rebels have abducted local officials, releasing them only after tough negotiations with the government.

About 2,000 people — including police, militants and civilians — have been killed in the conflict between police and rebels across India in the past few years.