Italian hostages are well, say kidnappers Maoist rebels have set Tuesday deadline for demands to be met

Two Italian tourists taken hostage in eastern India are well, the Maoist rebels who kidnapped them last week have said.

Paulo Bosusco, 54, and Claudio Colangelo, 61, are "well and regularly receiving food", the rebels said in an audio message, according to the IBN-CNN network.

The rebels, who are involved in a bloody, decades-long guerilla war against the Indian authorities, have set a late-Tuesday deadline for 13 demands they have made to be satisfied. The demands include the release from prison of three Maoist leaders and the end of an offensive against the rebels in the state, which the local authorities are said to have suspended.

The rebel group announced a ceasefire Monday as it negotiated with Indian officials.

After a previous deadline expired late Sunday, local citizens and politicians have contested the kidnappers with sit-ins and marches in the state of Orissa, where Bosusco and Colangelo were trekking. photo: Claudio Colangelo