13 killed by Maoists in Chhattisgarh

RAIPUR: The bodies of at least 13 more tribal hostages killed by Maoist rebels were recovered in Chhattisgarh's violence-hit Dantewada district on Saturday, raising the death toll to 15.

Police recovered the bodies from a forested area under the jurisdiction of the Arabore police station early morning and confirmed that the deceased belonged to a group of 40 tribes’ people taken hostage by the outlawed Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist) on Tuesday evening.

Police had recovered the bullet-ridden bodies of two tribal hostages on Friday.

All the 13 bodies were recovered around 10 am on Saturday from deep forests near the Dornapal relief camp in Dantewada, 550 km south of here.

"The bodies had multiple wounds. The rebels had killed them by slitting their throats," district police chief Praveer Das said over telephone.

A total of 40 tribal belonging to the government-sponsored anti-Maoist group salwa judum (peace mission) were taken hostage on Tuesday evening by rebels while the tribal were returning to the government's makeshift relief camp in Dornapal from their forested village of Manikonta.

Police said the rebels had probably taken the remaining 25 tribespersons to their hideout somewhere in the Bastar forest for "interrogation about their role in the anti-insurgency operation".

The CPI-Maoist has so far not claimed responsibility for the abductions or killings.

Maoist rebels dominate half of Chhattisgarh's 16 districts. The guerrillas have killed 135 people, mostly civilians, in the state this year.

13 killed by Maoists in Chhattisgarh (Times Of India,Saturday, April 29, 2006)

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• MAOISTS
• COMMUNIST-CRIMES