8 Maoists killed in gun battle on Telangana-Chhattisgarh border
Suresh Dharur
Tribune News Service
Hyderabad, March 1
In a major blow to the Maoist leadership, at least eight Naxalites, including five women, were killed in a fierce encounter with the police in the inter-state border area between Telangana and Chhattisgarh in the early hours of Tuesday.
The Telangana Maoist party secretary Hari Bhushan and division commander Lachanna, alias Kunja Veeraiah, are believed to be among those killed in the gun battle between a team of Greyhounds, an elite anti-Naxalite force of Telangana, and the extremists in Gottepadu forest area, close to the Telangana-Chhattisgarh border in the south Bastar region.
The police found eight bodies of slain Maoists, including five women cadres, after exchange of fire ended. They also reportedly recovered eight weapons, including one AK-47, three SLRs and three other firearms.
The encounter took place when a team of Telangana and Chhattisgarh police personnel and CRPF men were carrying out a joint combing operation in the region. The combing operation is still on in the forest area, police sources said.
“The operation was planned and executed by Telangana Greyhounds. Since they were entering our territory, they had asked for a few jawans to provide knowledge on the terrain, which was given,” Santosh Singh, Assistant Superintendent of Police, Anti-Naxal Operations, Sukma District of Chhattisgarh, was quoted in the media as saying.
