HYDERABAD, 21 March 2006 — Maoist rebels kidnapped and killed two teenagers in the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh after branding them police agents, officials said yesterday.

The teenagers, Nagesh, 15, and Yelisha, 13, were among five minors kidnapped by guerrillas on Friday from a village in Prakasam district, 270 km south of Hyderabad.

They were shot dead by rebels who suspected the boys of passing information on the Maoists to police, officers said, adding that it was the first time that children in the state had been targeted in this way.

In the neighboring state of Chhattisgarh, police said they killed five Maoist rebels in a gun battle early yesterday in the forests of Balrampur, 510 km northeast of state capital Raipur. Several Maoists were injured in the fighting, a police officer said, adding that the rebels managed to carry back bodies of four of their five dead comrades. A hunt was on for them in the forests, he said.

The rebels had late on Sunday set off a land mine under a police truck in a forested area elsewhere in Chhattisgarh, killing two police officers and wounding 13 others.

The rebels, who operate out of jungle bases in nine states, mainly in the southern and eastern parts of country, claim to be fighting for the rights of poor peasants and landless laborers in an insurgency that has killed thousands over four decades.

Singa Prasad, a leader of a local Maoist committee, claimed responsibility for the killings of the children in a statement which was left with the dead bodies. One of the kidnapped children was released on Sunday and returned home with news of the killings.

“The fate of the other two boys in rebel custody is uncertain,” said N. Balasubramanyam, the district’s superintendent of police.

Country Liquor Kills 10

Ten villagers attending the cremation of a man poisoned by homemade alcohol in the state died after toasting him with smuggled brew, police said yesterday.

D. Jaggaiah, a farmer at Ratta Kanna village 730 km northeast of Hyderabad, died on Saturday after consuming alcohol believed to have been illegally brought in from the neighboring state of Orissa.

“Many of the villagers and relatives became sick when they drank hooch after Jaggaiah’s funeral as part of their traditional customs,” said M. Veerabrahmaiah, a district official. All of those at the cremation were men.