Hyderabad, Dec 1 Seven Maoists were killed in a major exchange of fire with police in Telangana's Mulugu district on Sunday.
The encounter between Maoists and the elite anti-Maoist force Greyhounds took place in the Chalapaka forest area in Eturnagaram mandal of the district around 5.30 a.m., police said.
Some key leaders of the Communist Party of India (Maoist) were believed to be among those killed.
The exchange of fire began when Greyhounds personnel conducting combing operations in the forests spotted a group of Maoists and ordered them to surrender. However, the Maoists opened fire on the Greyhounds commandos, forcing them to return the fire.
There were no immediate reports of any casualties on the police side.
Top Maoist leader Badru was also suspected to be among the slain extremists. Badru was the secretary of the Yellandu-Narasampeta Area Committee of CPI (Maoist) and a member of the Telangana State Committee of the banned outfit.
The slain Maoists were reportedly identified as Kursam Mangu alias Badru alias Papanna (35), Egolapu Mallaiah alias Madhu (43), Mussaki Deval alias Karunakar (22), Jai Singh (25), Kishore (22), Kamesh (23) and Mussaki Jamuna (23).
Police have recovered two AK-47 rifles and other weapons and explosives from the scene of the encounter. Senior police officials rushed to the scene of the exchange of fire.
This is the first major encounter in Mulugu district in recent years and it took place amid attempts by the banned outfit to revive its activities in the region.
The district had recently seen the presence of Maoists. On November 21, the extremists hacked to death two persons on suspicion of being police informers in Mulugu district.
The Maoists had resorted to the action in Penugolu Colony in Wajedu mandal headquarters.
The victims were identified as Uika Ramesh and resident Uika Arjun. Ramesh was the secretary of Peruru Gram Panchayat in the same mandal.
The assailants left a note near the bodies stating that Ramesh and Arjun were collecting information and passing it to the Special Intelligence Bureau (SIB), an elite agency of the state police involved in anti-Maoist operations.
Disclaimer: This post has been auto-published from an agency feed without any modifications to the text and has not been reviewed by an editor