Ranchi, Sep 1 (Inditop.com) Two Maoist rebels were killed in a gunbattle with security personnel in Jharkhand’s Gumla district Tuesday, police said.

According to police, the gunbattle between security forces and Maoist rebels belonging to the People’s Liberation Front of India (PLFI) took place in Sursang jungle, which comes under the Kamdera police station in Gumla district, some 140 km from Ranchi.

Police raided the Maoist hideout in the jungle on a tip-off. Five Maoist rebels started firing when police asked them to surrender.

The gunbattle lasted for nearly one and half hours. Two rebels were killed and three managed to escape, police said.

Police seized one double-barrel gun and one illicit, country-made pistol from the site of the gunbattle.

Maoist guerrillas are active in 18 of the 24 districts of Jharkhand. Nearly 1,550 people have been killed in Maoist-related violence in the last eight years.