New Delhi - At least three people were shot dead by suspected Maoist guerrillas in India's eastern state of Bihar, a news report said Tuesday.

Armed Maoist rebels attacked Khaira village in southern Lakhisarai district late Monday night in retaliation for the killing of a Maoist by locals last week, the PTI news agency reported quoting police.

The attackers fired indiscriminately and killed three men on the scene, the report said.

Two women who were injured in the attack were being treated at a government hospital in Lakhisarai where their condition was described as "critical."

Police said villagers in Khaira had beaten to death a self-proclaimed Maoist commander on Holi, the Hindu festival of colours on 11 March, after he entered a woman's house and harassed her at gunpoint.

Police were conducting raids in surrounding areas to arrest the rebels.

Maoist militants, who claim to be fighting for the rural poor, operate in 13 of India's 29 states and Maoist violence has been reported from 170 of the 600 districts in the country.

According to independent estimates, more than 600 people including civilians, police and rebels were killed in Maoist violence in India in 2008.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has described the Maoist insurgency as one of the gravest internal security threats facing India. (dpa)