6 Maoists gunned down by forces in encounter: Police

THE SKIRMISH BETWEEN THE INSURGENTS AND SECURITY FORCES TOOK PLACE AROUND 7AM IN A FOREST IN KISTARAM AREA OF CHHATTISGARH’S SUKMA DISTRICT

HYDERABAD: Six members of the banned Communist Party of India (Maoist) were killed in a gunfight with security forces in the Telangana-chhattisgarh border area on Monday, police said.

The security forces received a tip-off about the movement of a large group of Maoists in areas falling under Telangana’s Charla police station and Chhattisgarh’s Kistaram police station, according to Sunil Dutt, superintendent of police, Bhadradri Kothagudem district in Telangana. They were planning to attack police personnel in these areas, Dutta said in a statement.

“Immediately, greyhounds (elite anti-maoist force of Telangana police), district police, District Reserve Guards of Kistaram in Sukma district of Chhattisgarh and forces from 141st battalion of the Central Reserve Police Forces (CRPF) launched a joint combing operation at Pesallapadu forest area in the morning to track down the Maoists,” the SP said.

The skirmish took place around 7 am in a forest in Kistaram area of Chhattisgarh’s

Sukma district.

“In the exchange of fire, six Maoists, including four women, were killed. In all, police seized five weapons, two .303 riffles and three double barrel guns, besides four rocket launchers, and other material, from the spot,” Dutt said, adding the slain were yet to be identified.

Preliminary reports indicate the insurgents belonged to the Kistaram area committee of Maoists, a police officer said on condition of anonymity. One of the deceased could be top Naxal leader, Madhu, who headed the Charla area committee of the Maoist outfit, the officer said.

The bodies were shifted to Bhadrachalam area hospital for postmortem, Dutt said.