According to official reports, Maoist rebels have killed 20 policemen and at least 20 civilians in the Dantewada district in the southern part of Chhattisgarh state in eastern India.

Reports are that the bus in which the people were traveling hit a land mine planted in the road in the late afternoon.

It was also reported that the Special Police Officers were civilians assisting the local and state police in their fight against the Maoists, also called Naxalites.

The Dantewada district was the scene last April of another deadly rebel attack when Maoists attacked four security force camps killing 75 government militia members.

The report further noted that the bus blast comes after police discovered the bodies of six civilians in the state's Rajnandgaon district last weekend. Maoists are suspected of the deaths in which all six had their throats cut.

Officials also said that two rebels also were killed in a gunfight with police in the Dantewada district.

The bodies of the six people, including a 36-year-old village chief, were dumped in a forest about 100 miles from the state capital Raipur. They had been abducted last week under suspicion by the Maoists of helping the police locate their isolated encampment in the thick forests.

They are being extremely cautious during their hunt of the area for the rebels, a police official said.

A senior police official said, "We are being cautious while trying to reach the site, which is close to the border with Maharashtra. Maoists had lured a police convoy to a booby trap in the same area July last year in which 29 policemen were killed." (With Inputs from Agencies)