New Delhi - At least 17 policemen were feared killed Thursday in a Maoist attack on a police patrol team in the western Indian state of Maharashtra, news reports said.

Around 150 to 200 Maoist rebels attacked a police patrol in the forests of Gadchiroli district in northwest Maharashtra bordering Chhattisgarh state, the NDTV news channel reported.

Seventeen policemen were feared killed in a fierce gunfight with the Maoists that lasted over four hours, the report said quoting Maharashtra Police chief SS Virk.

The bodies of the policemen were yet to be recovered as the attack took place deep in the forest in a remote area with poor communication links, Virk was quoted as saying.

Another Maoist group surrounded and fired at a police station in the same district, the police said. There were no deaths but some policemen were injured.

Additional reinforcements have been sent to the area, Virk said.

Maoist rebels are active in 20 of India's 28 states in a "red corridor" stretching from the border with Nepal down to Andhra Pradesh state in the south.

According to latest government data, more than 580 people have been killed in the fighting since January.

The rebels claim they are fighting for the rights of landless, poor and tribal people and usually target security and government officials and government installations.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has described the Maoist movement as the greatest internal security threat facing India. (dpa)