Patna, Aug 21 (IANS) Maoists have threatened to eliminate four police officers including Gaya district senior superintendent of police Manu Maharaj to avenge the killing of a woman Maoist commander in a shootout, police said on Friday.

"Maoists diktat to kill four police officers, including Maharaj, came to the notice of police when they recovered some handwritten posters from three Maoists arrested from a village in Aurangabad district," Aurangabad superintendent of police Babu Ram said.

Maoists have also threatened to kill Cobra commandant Neeraj Kumar, the CRPF's company commandant Om Prakash Tiwari and Inspector of Barachatti police station Ravi Prakash Singh.

"Maoists have been doing all this to create a panic among security forces involved in combing operations against them," Ram Babu said.

Babu Ram admitted that Maoists planned to target security forces during the upcoming Bihar assembly polls in October-November.

Gaya and Aurangabad are considered strongholds of Maoists in the state.