By IANS
Raipur : The bodies of two farmers who were allegedly killed by Maoists were recovered by the police from a forest in Bijapur district of Chhattisgarh Monday.
Police officials said a group of armed Maoist militants attacked Chintagufa village in the state's insurgency-hit Bijapur district Friday night and took two farmers to a nearby forest.
The bullet-ridden bodies of the farmers, Kalmu Dulla, 50, and Marwi Mura, 40, were found in the forest Monday.
Police officials added that the dead farmers had no link with the government-backed civil militia movement Salwa Judum (Campaign for Peace) whose cadres are prime targets of Maoists.
"The slain people were farmers and had never given any information to police. We do not know the reason behind the killing," a police official told IANS.
The killing has come in the wake of a recent diktat issued by the Maoists through posters and leaflets asking farmers in the region to refrain from cultivating crops this season.
Last week, the militants had killed three farmers in Bijapur district in separate incidents.
Thousands of people have been killed in India since the Maoists began armed militancy in 1967. Their activities have spread to at least 13 of India's 29 states, with mineral-rich Chhattisgarh being the worst affected.