Two Maoists arrested in Jharkhand's Gumla District

Police in Jharkhand's Gumla District have confirmed the arrest of two Maoists linked to the People's Liberation Front of India (PLFI).

Acting on a tip-off, police said they arrested the two Maoists from two different locations.

"One of them is Rooplal Mehto, the son of Pyaarelal Mehto. He was arrested near Kishiwada with one local pistol and two live bullets. He was a part of the Gulaab Gang and he had started working with the PLFI recently," said Bhimsen Tuti, a police officer.

Tuti said the two were planning to execute a crime, and the residents of the area helped in getting them arrested. In all, two pistols and three bullets were recovered from the rebels.

The Maoists, also known as Naxals, have killed police and politicians, and targeted government buildings and railway tracks in an insurgency that has claimed the lives of thousands since the 1960s.

The Maoists, who say they are fighting for the rights of the poor and landless, control some of India's mineral-rich areas and operate in large swathes of the eastern, central and southern countryside.

The rebels are estimated to number 7000 hardcore fighters in nearly a third of India's 630 districts.