Maoist guerrillas have abducted two Italian tourists from a remote district of India's Orissa state, marking a potential escalation of a decades-long rebel war considered India's most serious internal security threat.
"We have imprisoned two Italian tourists," Sabyasachi Panda, organising secretary of the state committee of the outlawed Communist Party of India-Maoist, said in an audio message sent to local reporters and obtained by Reuters.
He said the tourists were seized after they were spotted taking photos of women from one of India's indigenous tribes who were bathing in a riverin the eastern state. The Italian Foreign Ministry identified the abducted men as Paolo Bosusco and Claudio Colangelo. It said it was in contact with Indian police through its embassy.
Bosusco runs a travel agency called Orissa Adventurous Trekking and has been a regular visitor to India for the last 15 years, Italian media reported.
Indian Prime Minister Manmoham Singh has declared the longstanding rebellion the biggest single threat to internal security. Hundreds die each year in violence linked to the insurgency but the guerrillas are not known for targeting foreigners.
At a news conference on Sunday, Orissa's home secretary U. N. Behera said the kidnapping took place on Saturday. Police say the tourists had been warned not to enter the area.
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