RAIPUR, April 29: Fifteen people kidnapped by Maoist rebels have been found dead in a forest in a Maoist-hit region of central India, police said on Saturday.

The guerillas abducted around 60 people from Dandewada district, 450 kilometers from Raipur, capital of Chhattisgarh state on Tuesday.

Two of the hostages were found dead two days later and on Saturday “we recovered 13 bodies from the deep forests near a village where they appeared to have been abducted,” director-general of police O.P. Rathore said.

The Maoists had released the remaining hostages, he said from the site of the mass slaying.

“So far we have the information that about 37 people have been freed but we are awaiting details about their condition,” he said.

“The released villagers are in a state of shock and are unable to narrate any of their experiences while in captivity,” another official, who asked not to be named, said in Dandewada where the rebels run a parallel administration.—AFP