PATNA, June 1: Indian police shot dead four Maoist rebels and arrested a female commander after a fierce gun battle in eastern India on Sunday, police said.

The dead included a senior Maoist leader wanted for killing an Indian politician in 2005, police officer Parveen Kumar said.

A police patrol cornered the rebels in a remote village in Jharkhand state and called on them to surrender, but they fired back, Kumar said.

“We retaliated by returning fire which killed four rebels on the spot,” Kumar said by telephone from Jharkhand.

The Maoists operate in a large swathe of India stretching from the east to some southern states, mostly in the countryside, and attack government officials and property.—Reuters