The attack came a day after the Indian government banned their Communist Party of India-Maoist, giving authorities the power to arrest its members and prevent them from assembling and carrying arms.
Nearly a dozen armed suspects escaped after Tuesday's attack, which injured two police officers in Lakhisarai, a town 110 miles (180 kilometers) east of Patna, the capital of Bihar state, said Neelmani, a top state police officer, who uses one name.
The attackers also took three rifles from police officers, who were waiting to present the suspected rebels in court for pretrial proceedings, Neelmani said.
Also Tuesday, the Maoists blew up two telecommunication towers in Bihar state on the second day of their strike to protest the government decision to send hundreds of police and paramilitary soldiers to evict them from a remote area in neighboring West Bengal state, Neelmani told The Associated Press.
Suspected rebels moved nearly two months ago into the Lalgarh region, a heavily forested part of West Bengal. They drove out poorly armed local police and seized control of villages in a 20-square-mile (50-square-kilometer) area.
Government forces had earlier been unable to reach the rebel-held areas because villagers blocked the roads, police said. Local residents support the Maoists because the political group that governs West Bengal state _ the Communist of Party of India-Marxist _ is accused of extorting money and harassing them in collusion with police.
West Bengal state said government forces would attempt to minimize bloodshed of the villagers by moving slowly into the area, just 90 miles (155 kilometers) southwest of Calcutta, the state capital.
The rebels, who say they are inspired by Chinese revolutionary leader Mao Zedong, have been fighting for more than three decades in several Indian states, demanding land and jobs for agricultural laborers and the poor. They frequently target police and government workers.
They are called Naxalites after Naxalbari, a village in West Bengal where the movement was born in 1967.
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