A Communist Party of India-Maoist Nalgonda district committee member and two women naxals were killed in an encounter with the police in Nalgonda district in Andhra Pradesh on Monday morning.

Police said Rachakonda dalam (armed squad) commander and district committee member G Chandraiah was among three Maoists killed in an exchange of fire in Rachakonda forest area in Samsthan Narayanpur mandal in the district.

The encounter took place when a police party, involved in combing operations, came face to face with naxalites in the forest area at around 6 am after being informed that the Maoists were camping near Tummai Tanda (tribal hamlet).

The exchange of fire lasted for three hours after which the police identified the bodies. The two women were identified as Shymala and Premlatha. Police suspect that five other naxals fled the scene.

Also see: Four naxals shot dead in AP

Police recovered a self-loading rifle, four pistols, one 8-mm rifle, two .303 rifles and four grenades apart from kitbags and revolutionary literature from the encounter site.

Chandraiah was involved in the attack on a police party, killing three policemen on the  Hyderabad-Vijayawada highway near Choutuppal on March 15 this year.

He was also responsible for another incident in which Maoists torched half-a-dozen buses in Home Minister K Jana Reddy's constituency-Chalakurthy-on March 18.