A Gaya report, quoting the superintendent of police Amrit Lalmeena said three injured have been admitted to the Anugrah Narayan Medical College and hospital. Eleven people were killed on the spot. One succumbed to injuries on way to hospital.

On January 25, 22 Dalits, including children and women, were killed by the Sena, a private army of landlords, at Shankarbigha village.

Since its formation, the Sena has massacred 281 people in 19 places in the state.

The Left groups have been mobilising people, mostly landless dalits and other backward classes, against the backdrop of the state's poor land reforms' record.

This has invited the wrath of the Sena, which has vowed to retaliate against the Naxalites' economic blockade which hindered farmoperations of landlords.

State Director General of Police K A Jacob said the district's borders have been sealed to arrest the assailants.

Chief Minister Rabri Devi and her husband and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) Chief Laloo Prasad Yadav had left to make a first-hand assessment of the situation in the village where security has been stepped up.