Maoists kill two persons in Orissa

Rayagada (Orissa), Aug 10 (ANI): Maoists killed two people in Orissa's Rayagada district suspecting them to be police informers.

Ashish Kumar Singh, superintendent of police, Rayagada district said that the Maoist were terrorising people fearing that their support among the masses was eroding.

"They are creating panic in the people by committing such types of offences by killing civilians or common people to terrorise them. Actually earlier they were not getting the proper support from the people and they are thinking that if they commit such type of violent action against the civilians then due to the fear the people will support them," said Singh.

The Maoists have increasingly spread out of their rural eastern strongholds and are active in nearly a third of the country's 630 districts, up from a presence in less than a tenth of them in 2001, government and independent data shows.

Maoist rebels say they are fighting for the rights of poor farmers and the disenfranchised. The rebels regularly attack railway lines and factories, aiming to cripple economic activity. (ANI)