Suspected Maoist rebels have murdered three politicians and looted a police station in southern India, officials said today.
Gunmen shot dead Badam Srinivas Reddy, a leader of the ruling Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party, as he returned home yesterday.
Aadi Reddy, a leader of Andhra Pradesh state's governing Telugu Desam Party, and Padi Krishna Rao, the leader of a small local party, were also killed in separate attacks.
Early today, two dozen suspected rebels blasted their way into a police station with explosives and looted arms and ammunitions in the Nallamalla forest area, 250 miles south-west of Hyderabad. No one was hurt.
The guerrillas shouted that the attack was in retaliation for the police killings of their comrades. Police and rebels often clash in Andhra Pradesh.
More than 6,000 people have been killed since the guerillas - inspired by Chinese revolutionary Mao Zedong - began fighting in 1981.
They are active in five southern and eastern states.
PA