Imphal, Sep 13 (IANS) Four paramilitary soldiers were killed and three critically wounded Tuesday in an ambush by separatists in India's northeastern state of Manipur, officials said.

An army spokesperson said heavily armed militants attacked a two-vehicle convoy of the paramilitary Assam Rifles near village Mapou, about 25 km east of Manipur's capital Imphal.

"Militants fired on the convoy with automatic weapons killing four soldiers on the spot and seriously injuring three others," Colonel Santanu Dev Goswami told IANS.

The Assam Rifles soldiers were on a routine patrol in the area when the incident took place. "We suspect militants from either the United National Liberation Front (UNLF) or the Kanglei Yawol Kanna Lup (KYKL) to be behind the ambush as the two groups are active in the area," a senior police official said requesting not to be named.

Both the rebel groups are fighting for independent homelands for the majority Hindu Metei community in the state of 2.4 million people that borders Myanmar. There are some 19-odd rebel groups active in Manipur with demands ranging from secession to autonomy and the right to self-determination.

More than 10,000 people have lost their lives to insurgency in Manipur, bordering Myanmar, during the past two decades.