CALCUTTA: Maoist rebels fired at a police patrol guarding a shopping area in eastern India over the weekend, killing four officers, authorities said on Monday.

The attackers escaped into a nearby forest as two other police officers chased them and exchanged gunfire in Gidhni, a small town nearly 110 miles southwest of Calcutta, the capital of West Bengal state, said Noman Hossain, a police officer.

The rebels took away the rifles of the slain police officers, Hossain told The Associated Press.

The Communist Party of India (Maoist), a key rebel group in the region, claimed responsibility for the killings, the Press Trust of India news agency said.

The rebels, known as Naxalites, have been fighting the government for more than three decades in several states, demanding land and jobs for farm labourers and the poor. They frequently target police and government officials, whom they accuse of colluding with landlords and rich farmers.

Over the past month, the rebels have killed more than 40 people – including 21 paramilitary troops – commandeered an express train for several hours, abducted government officials and blown up two schools across central and eastern India, the government said.

The government has ordered hundreds of paramilitary troops to be sent to some of the areas worst-hit by rebel violence in an attempt to reinforce local police.