**Sixteen people have been killed by suspected Maoist rebels in a village in the Indian state of Bihar, police say.**The attack took place in Icharwa village in Khagaria district, 200km (124 miles) from the state capital, Patna, late on Thursday night.
A survivor whose son was among the dead told the BBC that the attackers tied up 16 people and shot them.
The Maoists, known as Naxalites, say they are fighting for the rights of the poor and landless.
More than 6,000 people have been killed during their 20-year fight for a communist state.
The Maoists operate in large parts of central and eastern India; officials say they are active in a third of all Indian districts.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has called the Maoist insurgency the single biggest threat to India’s security.
Last month, Mr Singh said India was losing the battle against the rebels.
This is the first big Naxalite attack in Bihar for a long time, the BBC Hindi’s Manikant Thakur in Patna says.
The rebels were not active in this area before but have recently extended their area of operation to cover these parts, our correspondent says.