Five police killed in Maoist ambush in Jharkhand

RANCHI, India (Reuters) - Five police were killed and two wounded by Maoist rebels in an ambush in Jharkhand on Friday, police said.

The police were returning to their station after checking a bank said to be rebel target in the state capital Ranchi.

More than 40 rebels ambushed the police jeep from a forest, a police spokesman said.

The gunbattle took place in a Maoist hub where in May rebels stole 50 million rupees ($1,020,000) and 3 kilos of gold after hijacking a bank delivery van.

Maoist rebels say they are fighting for the rights of poor farmers and landless labourers in an insurgency that began in the late 1960s.