MULUGU/HYDERABAD/RAIPUR: Three Maoists were killed in an exchange of fire between the outlaws and security personnel on the
Telangana-Chhattisgarh
border early Monday.
During a joint combing operation by Telangana’s Greyhound commandos and
Chhattisgarh
police deep inside dense forest in Telangana’s
Mulugu
district, the security personnel came under a burst of fire from Maoists prompting the former to retaliate, a
Telangana police officer said.
The Greyhounds, Mulugu district cops and a unit from Chhattisgarh’s Bijapur police had been combing the dense forests for the past few days looking for top Maoist leader
Madvi Hidma
, after informers spotted him near the Telangana-Chhattisgarh border.
“During the combing operation, the Maoists fired a volley of bullets at the security personnel and the latter returned the fire. In the ensuing gunfight, three Maoists were killed,” Mulugu SP Sangram Singh G Patil said.
Weapons indicate senior cadres in groupBastar range IG P Sundarraj said the hourlong encounter broke out between
Telangana Greyhounds
and Maoists in a patch of dense forest near Nilamadugu on the interstate border, between Perur in Telangana’s Mulugu district and Illimidi in Chhattisgarh’s Bijapur. The seized weapons include an AK47 and an SLR, indicating there were senior cadres in the group of insurgents.
Telangana Maoist State Committee
spokesperson Jagan, in a statement, identified those killed as
Naroti Damaal
, a resident of Gadchiroli in Maharashtra, and
Soddi Ramaal
and
Punem Bhadru
of Bijapur district. The CPI (Maoists) alleged it was a fake encounter and declared a bandh on Wednesday in Mulugu to protest the killings.
The joint combing operation began after a tip-off that Maoists had planted landmines to attack police and paramilitary camps in the area, besides targeting local politicians. While sanitizing the area, police recovered a hand grenade, 12 kit bags, four weapons, including the rifles, explosive wire, pressure cooker, and a knife.
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