Maoist rebels gunned down five people, including two students, at Pundiri village, about seven km from the Tamar police station in Ranchi district, on Sunday night on the suspicion that they were police informers.

A senior police officer told The Indian Express that a group of 10-15 armed Maoists surrounded the village around 10 pm and took away the five men to a nearby bridge, lined them up and shot them dead from close range. Pundiri is the same village where five policemen, including a DSP, were killed in the landmine blast on July 7 last year.

The victims of the latest attack were identified as Subodh Kumar (44), a contractor, Prahlad Kumar (35), a stationary shop owner, Jaur Singh Munda (35), a daily wage earner, Amit Kumar (20), a Plus II student, and his brother Sumit (16), a Class XI student.

All were residents of the village. Amit and Sumit used to study in Jamshedpur but had returned home recently to seek admission at the Tamar college.