Nearly fifty armed Maoists entered a village and killed four people in Orissa's Rayagada district on Wednesday.
Maoists entered a house in Pandratola village, approximately 350 kilometers from Bhubaneswar late on Wednesday night, and killed three people. Two other people were injured in the incident and were admitted to a hospital, and one of them later succumbed to his injuries.
The Maoists reportedly killed these people on suspicion that they were acting as police informers.
"Approximately 50 Maoists came to Rayagada on Wednesday night and knocked at our door. I ran away as I smelled danger. They dragged my brother outside and killed him there," said Satyay Kondagiri, brother of a slain victim.
Maoists had also pasted posters at several areas in the villages, stating their opposition to the appointment of a village youth as the special police officer in the state police, to take on Maoists.
Reports said that the killings were in retaliation to the recent police action against Maoists in the state.
Home Minister P Chidambaram on Wednesday said that the government was willing to talk to Maoists about issues such as poverty and corruption, which are often blamed for stoking the insurgency, but insisted that the rebels must first stop violence.
