Bhubaneswar, Nov. 11: A brief lull over, Maoists today gunned down four men in Orissa’s Rayagada district.

The deceased have been identified as Prahallad Kandogiri, Dharma Rao, Anandi Mandongi and Kangogiri Dharmapuri. Perhaps avenging the recent police encounters, the rebels shot the men branding them as police informers.

Soon after midnight, 50-odd armed guerrillas swooped on Pandratola village of Rayagada. They pulled out the sleeping men from their homes and brought them out in the open and shot them in front of everyone. While three men died on the spot, one succumbed to his injuries while being taken to the district headquarters hospital.

“Eyewitness said the men were speaking in Telugu,” said Rayagada superintendent of police Ashish Singh.

Rebels left behind posters that said that the men were killed as they were “exploiting the poor and because they were police informers”. The posters asked the police to stop atrocities on the tribals.

In another incident, in MV-77 village of Malkangiri, rebels blew up a newly-constructed bridge. The move was to disrupt the movement of security forces in the district, officers said. Rebels used landmines to blow up the bridge, said superintendent of police Satyabrata Bhoi. He added that adequate force has been rushed to the spot. No one was injured, but connectivity was partly affected. Security was beefed up in several places.