Maoist Rebels Shoot Dead 7 Villagers in Eastern India

Seven villagers were shot dead Monday by left-wing rebels on a road in a remote part of eastern India, police said, the latest violence in a long-running insurgency.

The killings occurred around dusk in Jharkhand, a mineral-rich state with a significant tribal population that is one of a number of Indian states gripped by an ultra-left insurgency.

"Maoist rebels have shot dead seven people near Redwa village" in Gumla district, Inspector General of Police Anurag Gupta told AFP by telephone from Ranchi, the state capital.

Gupta blamed the attack on armed rebels belonging to a Maoist faction.

The seven victims were traveling in a vehicle at the time of the attack, police said, adding they had no further details about the killings.

Gupta said the attack "created panic amongst the villagers and additional security forces have been deployed by the district administration".

He said a "combing operation" had been launched to find the attackers.

India's government has described the Maoist insurgency as the country's most serious internal security threat.

The new government of Narendra Modi has been seeking to stem the insurgency by earmarking development funds for revolt-hit areas and improving policing.

The government says nearly one-third of India's 29 states "have left-wing extremism in varying degrees".

The Maoist insurgency has cost thousands of lives.

It has been most active in forested, resource-rich areas in the states of Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Orissa, Bihar and Maharashtra.