July 17, 2007	Tuesday	Rajab 01, 1428

GUWAHATI, July 16: A local official kidnapped by rebels in the northeastern Indian state of Assam was found dead on Monday, the second state representative to die in militant hands in a week, police said.

Security officials recovered the body of Kailash Jha, who worked with the state-run Cement Corporation of India, from a densely forested area east of Assam's main city of Guwahati.

“We suspect Jha died of a heart attack, unable to withstand the pressure of being made to walk through jungles by his abductors,” police official B. Purkayastha told newsmen by telephone.

“There was no visible injury mark and now we have sent the body for an autopsy.” Jha and 10 others were taken hostage on Sunday from Karbi Anglong district by militants of the banned Karbi Longri North Cachar Liberation Front (KLNLF). The group is fighting for a homeland for the majority Karbi tribe in eastern Assam.

The rebels released eight of the 10 hostages early on Monday, Purkayastha said, adding that police and soldiers were hunting for the remaining two hostages.

Jha’s death come after P.C. Ram, a senior official of the federal Food Corporation of India, was killed on Thursday in crossfire between security forces and another separatist rebel group.

Ram had been kidnapped by the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA).

Police also said they had recovered the bullet-ridden body of government engineer Ajay Deka, kidnapped by unidentified gunmen on Sunday, from the outskirts of Guwahati.

Police officer Rajen Singh said authorities suspect Deka had also been snatched by militants.

—AFP