Anti-Naxal Forces, Image credit: PTI
Hyderabad : Two Maoists were killed in an exchange of fire with police in Telangana's Komaram Bheem Asifabad district, police said on Sunday.
The encounter happened late on Saturday night.
The incident occurred in the Kadamba forest area in Kagaznagar mandal of the district when police personnel were conducting search operations following information about the presence of Maoists.
In-charge district superintendent of police, V. Satyanarayana said Maoists opened fire on policemen and two of them were killed when the police returned fire. There were no casualties on the police side.
The slain Maoists were yet to be identified but a top Maoist of the region M. Adellu alias Bhaskar is suspected to have escaped.
Police launched a combing operation in the area following a tip-off that Bhaskar, who is the division committee secretary of the CPI (Maoist) for Mancherial and Asifabad districts was moving in Chiletiguda near Asifabad town.
About 400 policemen are taking part in the combing operations in the forests.
This is the third exchange of fire incident in northern Telangana in less than a month. A Maoist was killed in an exchange of fire with the police in Gundala mandal of Bhadradri Kothagudem on September 3. Two Maoists were killed in an exchange of fire with the police near Charla mandal in the same district.
An exchange of fire between two sides had taken place in July in the same district. According to police some top Maoists had escaped after the incident.
In another incident, police defused three landmines laid by Maoists in Bhadradri Kothagudem district on Saturday. The extremists had laid the landmines on Bhadrachalam-Charla road between Kaliveru and Tegada villages.
Maoists have stepped up their activities in recent weeks to regroup themselves in Telangana.
Police have heightened the vigil in the districts bordering Chhattisgarh and Maharashtra.
Director General of Police M. Mahender Reddy visited these districts in July. He again visited Asifabad district early this month and reviewed the situation with top officials.