Twelve Maoists surrender in Malkangiri

Twelve Maoists, including five women, surrendered before police in Odisha's Malkangiri District on Friday.

Superintendent of Police Akhileswar Singh said that most of the Maoists, including a couple, belonged to Poplur Dalam and Kalimela Dalam in the Naxal-hit district adjoining Andhra Pradesh.

He said they had surrendered becasue of exploitation and overt police pressure.

The rebels were involved in murder, encounters with police, setting off landmines, loot, extortion, and burning of government vehicles and those of private companies in the last five to seven years.

Subarna Khara, a surrendered woman Maoist, claimed they were being sexually exploited by seniors.

Over 50 Maoists have surrendered in the area in last four months.

The rebels, also known as Naxals, have fought for decades in a wide swathe of central and Eastern India, including many resource-rich regions where tensions run high between poor farmers and industrial developers.

The Maoists are estimated to number 7000 hardcore fighters in nearly a third of India's 630 districts. While they have made few inroads into cities, they have spread into rural pockets in 20 of the 28 states.

Maoists say they are fighting for the rights of poor and marginal farmers and landless labourers. Thousands have been killed in the insurgency since the late 1960s.