Thirteen people abducted by insurgents were found dead Saturday but 37 others were freed, according to media reports.
The rebels had abducted 52 people from a single village in the district of Dantewada on Tuesday. Two were found dead Friday and 13 on Saturday, local police superintendent Sant Kumar Paswan told the Press Trust of India news agency.
The other 37 captives were released, PTI reported.
“The released villagers are in a state of shock and are not able to tell where they were or how they were treated,” PTI quoted an unnamed police official as saying.
Local police could not be reached for comment.
The communist rebels have been fighting for more than two decades, demanding land and jobs for agricultural laborers and the poor.
The rebels have often targeted police and government officials, whom they accuse of colluding with landlords and rich farmers to exploit the poor.
The villagers had taken part in a march Tuesday to protest rebel violence that has killed more than 6,000 people.
The rebels, known as Naxalites, are mainly active in six of India’s 28 states — Andhra Pradesh, Jharkhand, Bihar, Karnataka, Orissa and Chattisgarh.
