A contractor was killed on Friday when Maoist guerrillas attacked a road construction camp and damaged equipment in Orissa's Koraput district.
About 10-12 armed rebels attacked a road construction camp and killed contractor S.S. Chawla near Chikalmari village, some 20 km from the police station at Semiliguda town, Inspector General of Police (Operations) Mr Sanjeev Marik told IANS.
The rebels also torched a machine used for lifting sand and a tipper truck, he said. The contractor was doing local road work in the area.
Maoists have influence in more than half of Orissa and Koraput, some 500 km from here, is one of the worst hit.
The incident comes two days after the rebels attacked and ransacked a police building and forest beat house at Daitari town in mineral-rich Keonjhar district late on Wednesday and abducted an assistant sub-inspector of police at gunpoint.
The rebels, through local television channels, have demanded the release of at least 68 tribals lodged in various jails of Keonjhar district in order to free the police officer.
The attack came during the shutdown Communist Party of India-Maoist called Wednesday and Thursday to protest the killing of their top leader Cherukuri Rajkumar alias Azad in an alleged shootout July 2 in Andhra Pradesh.