By IANS,
New Delhi : Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Tuesday said the abduction of two Italian nationals in Odisha is a “reminder of the challenge” to internal security posed by leftwing extremism.
“The abduction of two foreign nationals recently is a reminder of the challenge to our internal security by Naxal and leftwing extremism,” the prime minister said in the Rajya Sabha in his reply to the motion of thanks on the president’s address.
Italian nationals Bosusco Paolo and Claudio Colangelo were abducted March 14 when they were on a trek in Odisha’s Kandhamal district. The two Italians were based in Puri.
Maoists claimed that the tourists were kidnapped after they were found taking “objectionable” photographs of some tribal women near a rivulet. They demanded, among others, that the government stop its anti-Maoist combing operations.