RANCHI, India: Suspected Maoist militants killed seven people in eastern India in the past two days, police said on Thursday.

More than 1,350 people have been killed in militant-related violence in Jharkhand state in the past seven years, officials say.

Maoist militants say they are fighting for the rights of poor farmers and landless labourers in an insurgency Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has described as one of the gravest threats to India's internal security.