Maoist rebels kidnapped an Indian politician on Saturday, police
said, a move that could upset talks over the release of two Italian
hostages held by left-wing fighters in the same eastern state of Orissa.
A
large group of armed men stopped Orissa state lawmaker Jhina Hikaka,
37, as he was being driven through a hilly area 500 km from the state
capital Bhubaneswar early on Saturday.
"They took him
hostage but left the driver and the bodyguard," police officer Suryamani
Pradhan told Reuters. "We are awaiting further details."
Pradhan
said the rebels left a leaflet on Hikaka's car listing the same 13
demands set for the release of Italians Paolo Bosusco and Claudio
Colangelo, taken hostage last week in what is believed to be the first
time the rebels have targeted foreigners.
It was not clear
if the politician was kidnapped by the same wing of the Maoists.
Saturday's kidnapping took place in a different region of the state.
Two
rebel-appointed negotiators talked with government officials until late
on Friday about the Italians, and talks were due to continue on
Saturday.
Although the rebels declared a unilateral
ceasefire during negotiations, the government said they shot dead a
police sub-inspector in the Maoist stronghold district of Malkangiri on
Thursday, the day talks started.
"The Maoists should desist from their continued violence," state chief minister Naveen Patnaik said late on Friday.
Also
known as Naxals, the rebels have fought a decades-long war against the
government in a wide swathe of central India. They say they are fighting
for the poor and landless, and they often back farmers in land disputes
with big business.
The government calls them India's main
internal security threat, and an obstacle to higher growth and more jobs
in Asia's third-largest economy. Hundreds die annually in the conflict,
although levels of violence have fallen in recent years.
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