Ultra-left Naxals, who abducted two Italian tourists in India's eastern state of Odisha six days ago, set the deadline for Tuesday to meet their demands, declared a ceasefire and named three mediators to negotiate with the state government.

A Naxal leader who called himself Sunil and claimed to secretary of Odisha state organizing committee of Communist Party of India (Maoist) sent an audio tape to the media in Bhubaneswar, the state capital of Odisha, in this regard.

The Naxal move came after Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik halted all security operations against the Naxals and appealed to the rebels to release the two Italian hostages unharmed immediately.

In a politically significant move the Naxals have named state social activist Nandapani Mohanty, human rights activist Biswapriya Kanungo and CPI(Maoist) politburo member Narayan Sanyal, who is lodged in Giridhi Jail in Jharkhand. This means Odisha government has to now seek Sanyal's release from the jail in Jharkhand.

After Patnaik's announcement, the Naxals too have also announced unilateral ceasefire from their side and have appealed to other rebels operating along the state border not to indulge in violence.

Sunil also said the deadline for the state government to respond to their offer Tuesday evening extending it by two days as they had earlier set the deadline on March 18 evening.

He also stated that the Italian hostages were safe and well looked after being given good food and rest.

According to eyewitness, the Italian nationals Bosusco Paolo, 54, and Claudio Colangelo, 61, had gone along with two Indians, Santosh Moharana and Kartika Parida, both residents of sea resort Puri, to Kandhamal district March 12 on a trekking trip.

Moharana and Parida were released by the rebels on March 16 and they narrated that on March 14 morning, about six to seven people came with guns when they were sitting near a rivulet. The rebels took the four to the forest after tying their hands and covering their eyes with a cloth.

Naxal leader Sabyasachi Panda who calls himself as Sunil, in an audio message sent to local media early Sunday said the tourists were kidnapped after they were found taking "objectionable" photographs of some tribal women near a rivulet while they were bathing.

The Naxal leader also said they had enough evidence that the tour operators bribed the administration to allow foreigners to visit the interior areas despite a ban.

The Naxals want the government to fulfill a charter of 13 demands including those it had promised last year for the safe release of the hostages.

The demands they had made last year included halting of operations by security forces, scrapping of accords with foreign companies like Koran steel giant Posco and international mining corporate Vednata for land transfer and projects, compensation for the families of Naxal sympathisers killed in police custody and release of about 600 prisoners.