Italy's foreign minister said Claudio Colangelo had spoken to local Italian diplomatic staff by telephone and was in a healthy condition. Another Italian was still being held captive.

"It was a frightening experience," Colangelo told a journalist from the NDTV network after a rebel commander released him at a camp 16 hours hike from main roads. He said he hoped his friend Paolo Bosusco would be free soon.

"I hope they understand we are Italian, Paulo has nothing to do with this war," Colangelo said.

The move came the day after the collapse of talks between the government and rebel-nominated negotiators. On Saturday suspected Maoists kidnapped a politician from the ruling party, adding to the tension.

"Now we have to bring Paolo Bosusco home," Italian Foreign Minister Giulio Terzi said in a statement.

Also known as Naxals, the Maoists have fought a decades-long war against the government in a wide swathe of centralIndia. They say they are fighting for the poor and landless, and they often back farmers in land disputes with big business.

The government calls themIndia's main internal security threat, and an obstacle to higher growth and more jobs inAsia's third-largest economy. Hundreds die annually in the conflict, although levels of violence have fallen in recent years.

Colangelo was taken hostage along with tour guide Paolo Bosusco on March 14 in what is believed to be the first time the rebels have targeted foreigners.

The fighters said they seized the men because they were taking photographs of indigenous tribeswomen bathing in a river. Among their demands is an end to tourism in sensitive areas of the state, and that the government ends operations against them.

A few weeks ago, a scandal erupted over what the insurgents regard as "human safaris" and the practice of taking tourists to see naked tribal people on theAndaman Islandsand in Orissa.

Authorities in the state have vowed to stop the practice, but the Maoists say not enough has been done.