Officials from 13 states in central, eastern and southern India reeling from attacks by Maoist rebels were holding talks Friday on ways to stem the rebellion, the home ministry said.

The meeting in New Delhi, chaired by federal home (interior ministry) secretary V.K. Duggal, was being attended by top state officials and police personnel, a ministry official said.

The one-day meeting comes in the wake of Maoist assaults that have included blowing up civilian and military convoys, seizing a town, a train hijack and jail breaks.

In one of the bloodiest incidents, rebels killed 28 people in an ambush last month when they were returning from a government-sponsored anti-Maoist rally in the central state of Chattisgarh.

According to the government, there are more than 9,300 Maoist rebels operating in large parts of eastern, central and southern India.

A government paper tabled in parliament said some 669 people died last year in Maoist insurgency-related violence, up from 556 in 2004. Some 116 people were killed in the first two months of this year.

The paper says there can be no dialogue with the Maoists, who claim to be fighting for the landless poor, until they lay down arms.

It urges a stronger police presence in affected areas but adds that allotment of land to the landless and poor in Maoist-affected areas would go a long way in tackling developmental aspects.

A recent home ministry report said Indian Maoists were focussing "on fresh recruitment and militarisation of their cadres."

"Training camps to impart training in arms and explosives handling to fresh and old cadres," were being held on a regular basis, it said.