India's left-wing Naxalite rebels have abducted at least eight people from a remote village in the eastern state of Bihar late last night, a senior police official said Sunday.

"All the abducted people were laborers working in a road bridge construction project in Badaldiah village in the state's Jamui district. A group of armed Naxalites swooped on the village and took them away at gunpoint," the official said, on condition of anonymity.

A massive manhunt has been launched to rescue the laborers, he added.

Naxalites are active in at least seven Indian states and they often abduct government officials and those engaged in developmental projects and trade them to free their colleagues lodged in jails.

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has described Naxalism as the country's biggest internal security threat.