Hyderabad: At least 12 Naxals belonging to the Telangana wing of the CPI (Maoists) were killed in an encounter with security forces at the Telangana-Chhattisgarh border early on Friday.
Among those gunned down was Hari Bhushan alias Jagan, a military tactician and top leader of the Telangana State Committee of CPI (Maoists).
According to an IANS report, six women cadre of the outfit were among those killed in the encounter in Cherla Mandal area of Bhadradri Kothagudem district in Telangana.
One constable of Greyhounds, the elite anti-Naxal force, was injured in the operation and airlifted to a hospital for treatment.
The incident occurred when police, including Greyhounds personnel, launched combing operations in the forests following tip-off about the presence of Naxals. They surrounded the Naxals and asked them to surrender. However, the Naxals opened fire, forcing the police to retaliate.
A big cache of arms and ammunition, including an AK-47 rifle, were recovered from the encounter site.
The bodies were being shifted to a nearby hospital for post-mortem and other formalities.
During last few weeks, there were reports about the presence of Maoists in the old Warangal and Khammam districts. Police said many had crossed over from neighbouring Chhattisgarh and were indulging in extortion and other illegal activities.
In December last year, eight Maoists of Chandrapulla Reddy Poru Bata, a splinter group of old People's War, were gunned down by police in Bhadradri Kothagudem district.
This was the first major incident since formation of Telangana State in 2014.
The Maoist movement had considerably weakened in the undivided Andhra Pradesh since 2005 when the police launched massive operations and eliminated several top leaders following the collapse of the ceasefire and first-ever talks between then state government and the Maoists.
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