Altogether seven villagers including four members of a village protection group called Shanti Sena were killed in an ambush by the extremists of CPI (Maoist) in Jharkhand’s Gumla district on Tuesday morning.

Confirming the incident, Senior IPS officer and (Jharkhand) police spokesperson R K Mullick said the deceased included four men, two women and a child. “A combing operation has been launched in the area to nab the extremists involved in the incident,” he said.

According to police, as a vehicle carrying Shanti Sena commander Bhawdeo Singh and his three supporters, besides two women and a child was crossing a forest area near Semara village under Palkot police station limits of Gumla district, armed extremists appeared from the forest and began spraying bullets on the vehicle. The rebels later burnt the vehicle using petrol bomb, police sources said. Bodies of the three victims were charred beyond recognition.