Bhubaneswar, Nov 4 (PTI) Maoists torched a guest house of a private steel company in Orissa's Malkangiri district even as two-day state-wide bandh called by them hit normal in the state's southern region today.

About 50 armed ultras attacked the guest house of a steel company at Gajiagoda in Chitrakonda area of Malkangiri around midnight and set it ablaze, district Superintendent of Police Satyabrata Bhoi said.

The Maoists assaulted the guard of the guest house and stormed the building. The ultras also beat up two company engineers and locked them up in a nearby house, he said adding the two were rescued this morning.

Meanwhile, normal life was affected in Malkangiri, Koraput, Rayagada and Gajapati districts on the first day of the shut-down called by Maoists to protest the Centre's decision to launch offensive against them and alleged police excesses, police sources said.