BHUBANESHWAR, India (AP) — Government forces have suspended operations against communist rebels in an eastern Indian state to seek the release of two state officials abducted two days ago.
U.K. Behera, the Orissa state home secretary, said the government also has offered to hold talks with the Maoist rebels. There was no immediate response from the militants, he said.
The rebels kidnapped three Orissa state officials on Wednesday, but freed one of them within hours and sent a letter through him listing their demands.
The abduction occurred in Malkangiri district, nearly 400 miles (650 kilometers) south of Bhubaneshwar, the capital of Orissa state. The area is mainly inhabited by poor tribal groups.
"We have stopped all combing operations across the state. We are prepared to talk to rebels wherever they want," Behera told The Associated Press.
The Maoists demanded that the state government release all of their fighters and supporters arrested in the region, disband all police and paramilitary soldiers’ camps and stop anti-Maoist operations.
They threatened to kill one of the hostages, a junior engineer, if their demands were not met by Friday. The other hostage is the top district administrator.
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. About 2,000 people — including police, militants and civilians — have been killed in the past few years.
The insurgents, who have tapped into the rural poor’s growing anger at being left out of the country’s economic gains, are now present in 20 of the country’s 28 states and have an estimated 10,000 to 20,000 fighters.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has called them India’s biggest internal security threat.
