Naxals blast two hijaked boats in AP

Guntur, Madhya Pradesh, Apr 30 (UNI) Naxals today blasted two tourist boats which they hijacked and kidnapped nine members ofthe boats'crew at kalwakuntla village in Guntur district of Andhra Pradesh.

Police said the naxals hijacked the two boats belonging to the state tourism department valued about Rs 2 crore this morning along with the crew at Nagarjuna sagar after unloading the 234 tourists from the boats.

The tourists who were stranded at the Island were later rescued from the Nagarjuna hills.

According to an eye witness, four naxals, including a woman belonging to the CPI (Maoist) party boarded the boats and hijacked the two boats to protest against the 'fake' encounter at Sundumalle in Kadapa district in which nine naxals were killed on April 28. A wedding party was travelling in the boats to visit the Nagarjuna hill in the Guntur-Nalgonda district when the naxals intercepted them.

As the vessels reached the island, the armed naxals detained the boat crew and ordered the crew to steer the boats towards Srisailam project.

An advocate, among the passengers, managed to inform the police after landing on the island.

UNI XR/AP VV PA KP2036