In the biggest strike so far this year in Bihar, Maoists gunned down 10 policemen, injured three others and looted several weapons at a village in Nawada district on Monday.

Over 200 Communist Party of India - Maoist ultras, armed with sophisticated weapons, attacked a police team comprising district armed police, Special Auxiliary Police and Bihar Military Police personnel, sent to Mahuliatand village to provide security at a function organised on the occasion of Ravidas Jayanti, official sources said.

Four jawans each from SAP and BMP, sub-inspector of Kauakaul police station Rameshwar Ram and assistant sub-inspector I D Singh were killed on the spot in the attack.

The Maoists took away 11 rifles, including SLRs, besides several rounds of ammunitions during the pre-planned operation at the village which borders Jharkhand, the sources said.

Though the police fired in retaliation, it was not known whether there was any casualty among the Maoists.

An alert has been sounded across the Naxal-affected districts of the state since the attack.

The Deputy Inspector General of Police (Magadh range) Pravin Vashisht, Inspector General (central range) Sunil Kumar, Additional Director General (Law and Order) V Narayanan and Nawada Police Superintendent Nishant Tiwari are camping at the spot with reinforcements, including those from the Special Task Force, the sources said. 

Ajai Kumar ,deputy  superintendent of police of Rajauri in Nawada, told rediff.com that it was a brutal attack on the security forces. "I am on my way to the site with additional forces," Kumar said.

Additional inputs from PTI