Maoists disguised as police kill six Indian villagers

PATNA: Suspected Maoist guerrillas disguised in police uniforms slaughtered six residents of a remote village in eastern India on Saturday, officials said.

The rebels attacked the village in Munger district in poverty-hit Bihar state and shot dead the six men, senior police official Neelmani, who uses one name, told AFP.

Speaking in Bihar state capital Patna, the police official said five of the villagers were killed on the spot while the sixth died later from his wounds.

The Maoists stormed Kareili village, 200 kilometres (125 miles) from Patna, accusing some of its inhabitants of being police informers.

The heavily armed left-wing insurgents wore uniforms of a paramilitary force which is engaged in anti-Maoist operations in several Indian states.

"The police have launched a combing operation in the area to find the Maoists," Neelmani added.

The Maoist movement, which began in 1967, feeds off land disputes, police brutality and corruption, and is strongest in the poorest and most deprived areas of India, many of which are rich in natural resources.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has called the insurgency India's main internal security threat.

Copyright AFP (Agence France-Presse), 2011