Italians fine, Maoists extend deadline

The Maoists on Tuesday extended the deadline for meeting their 13-point demand, in return for the release of two abducted Italians, by 24 hours.

The Maoists on Tuesday extended the deadline for meeting their 13-point demand, in return for the release of two abducted Italians, by 24 hours.

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“The deadline is extended by another 24 hours,” a senior party leader of the Odisha State Organising Committee of Maoists told a TV channel.

Meanwhile, a day after the Maoists named three negotiators to hold talks with the authorities on the six-day-long hostage crisis, the Odisha government maintained that the Italians were safe and unharmed.

“We have information that the two Italians abducted by the Maoists are safe and unharmed,” chief secretary B K Patnaik said after the hostage crisis was reviewed at a high-level meeting here.

The Italians, Puri-based tour operator Paolo Bosusco and tourist Claudio Colangelo, were abducted while trekking in Kandhamal district on March 14.