In fresh bouts of Naxal violence, armed Maoists attacked a police outpost and a bus in Jharkand killing one policeman.

Seven policemen were also injured, two of them critically, in the early morning raid at Bansjor in Simdega district on the Orissa-Jharkhand border.

There were conflicting reports on the number of Naxals involved in the attack.

Local police said 50-odd ultras fired and hurled bombs at the outpost, 45 km from Rourkela, while Sergeant Major J K Jha said in Ranchi that there were nearly 500 Maoists and they hurled petrol bombs before firing randomly.