Hyderabad, Dec. 3: Andhra Pradesh has witnessed its first Maoist killings in four years, lending credence to fears of a rebel revival and large-scale violence in the state.

In a series of strikes yesterday, Maoist guerrillas killed two men — one a small-time Telugu Desam Party leader and the other a former rebel — and kidnapped four in their erstwhile stronghold, the Karimnagar-Khammam-Warangal belt in Telangana.

“This is significant. It appears that the Maoists are planning large-scale violence, such as ambush of police patrols, in Vishakhapatnam, East Godavari, Khammam, Adilabad, Karimnagar and Warangal districts,” state police chief K. Aravinda Rao said.

“We have put our forces in all these potential threat regions on full alert.”

Andhra police’s Greyhound commandos had driven most of the rebels out of the state in 2006, but they have been returning since October-November from three sides:

Across the Chhattisgarh border to the Karimnagar-Khammam-Warangal region;

From Maharashtra’s Gadchiroli to Adilabad in northern Telangana;

From Orissa to the Vishakhapatnam-East Godavari coastal belt in the northeast.

Since last month, the state government has suspended night bus services in these regions.

Senior intelligence officers said the Maoists might be planning major strikes in December to coincide with the 10th anniversary of the formation of the People’s Liberation Guerrilla Army (PLGA).

This week, Maoist spokesperson Gudsa Usendi had issued a statement saying that so far only the PLGA had been fighting the security forces but now two other units had been trained in warfare.

He said the rebels would deploy their Bhum-Kal (farm labour and tribal wing) and Praja Militia (paramilitary wing) in the Dandakaranya forests. “These units will spread the message of non-co-operation with the security forces, disrupt their supplies and infiltrate their camps and security perimeters,” he said.

Usendi said the PLGA’s 10th anniversary celebrations would be observed across the state’s border districts for a month, and would be used to recruit youths.

Analysts said the rebels were moving into Andhra partly because of stepped-up police operations in Chhattisgarh.

Recently, villagers in Vishakhapatnam reported the movement of a band of 40-50 armed Maoist guerrillas. Last week, a 30-member rebel team was noticed near Kotipally in Adilabad. Police sources said the Maoists had reconstituted the Galikonda dalam (squad) and formed another dalam in the Vishakhapatnam region.

Yesterday’s victims were all branded police informers by the guerrillas. There is still no word about the four hostages.

Six Maoists, including three women, came to the home of Telugu Desam official Sheikh Majid, 30, in Warangal and took him away, leaving a leaflet with his wife that said he was being punished as a “police informer”. His blood-soaked body was found on a village road.

Another squad dragged former Maoist K. Satyam, 35, out of his Karimnagar home and shot him.