About 1,800 state and federal troops have been deployed to quell the rebellion that began on Sunday when Maoists and tribal villagers went on the rampage against the region's ruling communists.

Police say 10 communist party activists have been killed, while police camps and party offices have also been burnt down.

Witnesses reported Maoist rebels on Thursday fired on security forces who attempted to push their way into the insurgent stronghold of Lalgarh, some 130 kilometres from the state capital Kolkata in eastern India.

Soldiers used teargas to clear some areas and rubber bullets had been fired to disperse angry crowds, television reports said.

'We hope security forces will enter Lalgarh in a few hours,' police inspector general Raj Kanojia said on Friday. 'More paramilitary troopers and policemen have been requisitioned.' Police said a dozen villagers had been arrested on suspicion of collaborating with Maoists.

The Maoist insurgency, which grew out of a peasant uprising in 1967, has hit more than half of India's 29 states. The rebels say they are fighting for the rights of neglected tribespeople and landless farmers. -- AFP