As many as eight Maoists, including five women, were killed in an alleged encounter in the forest area between the Gollapalli village in the Bijapur district of Chattisgarh and the Charla mandal in the Khammam district of Telangana on Tuesday morning.
Upon receiving information that some Maoists had been sighted at 7 pm on Monday, Central forces, accompanied by the police personnel of Telangana and Chattisgarh states, conducted a combined operation, in which several rounds of fire were exchanged between the extremists and the police, resulting in the death of eight Maoists.
The bodies of the eight slain Maoists were airlifted by BSF helicopters to the Bhadrachalam government hospital, and three bodies were identified - as those of Gottimukkala Ramesh alias Latchanna of Bapatla in the Guntur district, Yousuf alias Soni of the Doulatabad mandal of the Medak district, and Raju belonging to Chattisgarh.
CPI (Maoist) Telangana secretary Haribhushan is believed to have been killed, though senior police officers of either State were unable to confirm that.
Police also seized arms including AK 47s, three 303 rifles and a huge amount of explosives from the spot.
Police are continuing combing operations in the area.