Suspected naxalites ambushed a police party, killing 13 Provincial Armed Constabulary jawans and four police constables, in Chandauli district of Uttar Pradesh on Saturday.

The naxalites, said to be numbering 150, laid an ambush for a truck carrying an unspecified number of police and Provincial Armed Constabulary jawans on combing duty and blew it up, police sources said.

Many were also injured, the sources said, adding that they were taken to a nearby hospital.

Commissioner C N Dubey, inspector general of police, Devraj Nagar range, and other officials reached the spot and a hunt was launched to nab the culprits, they said.