New Delhi  - Suspected Maoist rebels gunned down 16 villagers, including five children, in the eastern Indian state of Bihar, a news report said Friday.

A group of at least 100 people, suspected to be Maoists and armed with automatic weapons, attacked Amosi Bharen Diara village in Khagaria district of Bihar late Thursday, IANS news agency reported quoting state inspector general of police SK Bharadwaj.

The attackers fired indiscriminately, killing 11 men and five children in the village which lies about 140 kilometres east of state capital Patna, Bharadwaj said.

Most of the victims belong to a lower caste of India's archaic social hierarchy-based caste system.

The police said the attack most likely came after the villagers disobeyed a Maoist diktat forbidding them to cultivate disputed farmland.

Senior police officials and reinforcements have rushed to the remote village. (dpa)