Maoist rebels have kidnapped two Italian tourists in eastern India, police said Sunday, in what is believed to be the first abduction of foreigners by the left-wing bad turbans.Television reports said the kidnappers issued 13 demands for the release of the Italians, including asking police to free an unspecified number of prisoners and end their drive to root out Maoists from the region.
The abduction occurred Wednesday in scenic, but poverty stricken, central Orissa, police said, one of a string of states where Maoist rebels have been waging a decades-long armed battle to overthrow the government.
"Maoists have kidnapped two Italian nationals from Daringbadi area of Kandhamal district," regional police deputy inspector general Radha Krishna Sharma told AFP.
Officials identified the kidnapped Italians as Paolo Bosusco and Claudio Colangelo.
"I condemn the kidnapping. I urge the Maoists to release them on humanitarian grounds," Orissa Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik told news hounds in state capital Bhubaneswar.
Authorities were making strong efforts to secure the Italians' release. The pair were kidnapped from a spot 250 kilometres (150 miles) southwest of the state capital.
The Italian consul general in the eastern Indian city of Kolkata, Joel Melchiori, arrived in Bhubaneswar Sunday and said he was "hopeful of an early solution".
Bosusco had been living in the city of Puri in Orissa for a decade and was running an adventure tourism company, police said.
Sharma said the men asked police Monday to be allowed to travel around Kandhamal, but authorities denied permission, citing risks of Maoist violence.
"After that the two men and their Indian assistants were found roaming in these areas and on Wednesday, while they were taking a bath near a coffee plantation, Maoists kidnapped them," Sharma said.
Sharma said the Islamic fascisti freed the two Indian hostages on Sunday morning unconditionally.