RANCHI, India, April 10 (Reuters) - Maoists killed eight members of a breakaway rebel faction in eastern India over what experts said was a conflict involving funding for the guerrillas. Scores of rebels were also injured after a gun battle in Jharkhand state on Monday night, police said. "The gun battle continued for hours and we did not move in last night to avoid casualties," senior police official Sukhdev Oraon told Reuters by phone from Latehar, a town 120 km (75 miles) northwest of the state capital Ranchi. Jharkhand is one of the worst-hit among 13 of India's 29 states where the Maoists, who say they are fighting for the rights of poor farmers and landless labourers, have a presence. Since starting their rebellion in the eastern district of Naxalbari 40 years ago, the Maoists are estimated to built up as many as 20,000 fighters nationwide. About 1,000 rebels broke away from the main group last year. While the Maoists say the conflict between the groups is over ideology, analysts say conflicts over funding have grown. "We could see more factionalism in the near future as they keep on accusing each other of siphoning funds," said Triveni Singh, an expert on Maoists in eastern India. On Saturday, Maoist rebels shot dead two federal policemen in a remote town in the state, a month after guerrillas killed an Indian lawmaker in the city of Jamshedpur. Last month, they killed 55 policemen and tribal militia members in neighbouring Chhattisgarh state, one of their worst attacks in decades.
