Police say at least five police officials were killed and two others critically injured when Maoist rebels targeted their vehicle with a bomb in eastern India.

Police say the rebels detonated a land mine on Sunday as an armored vehicle ran over it in Dantewada district of Chhattisgarh state.

Police say the two injured policemen were evacuated to a hospital in critical condition.

The Maoist rebels, inspired by Chinese revolutionary leader Mao Zedong, have been fighting the Indian government for more than four decades, demanding land and jobs for tenant farmers, the poor and indigenous communities.

The government has called the rebels India's biggest internal security threat.