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Six cadres of the outlawed Communist Party of India-Maoist including two women were killed after an exchange of fire between the ultras and the police in Bhadradri Kothagudem district of Telangana on Thursday, the police said.
Two commandos of the Greyhounds, the elite anti-naxal force of the Telangana police, were also injured in the exchange of fire and were shifted to a hospital and their condition is out of danger, they said.
The exchange of fire took place at around 6.45 am in the forest area of Mothe village under Karakagudem police station limits when the armed CPI-Maoist cadres opened fire indiscriminately on the police party which was on patrol, a release from the police said.
After warning the Maoist cadres to stop fire and in self-defence, as the firing from the Maoists did not stop, the police party also returned fire. After the firing stopped from Maoist armed cadres, the police party searched the area and found six bodies, clad in olive green clothes, it said.
The six dead were Maoist cadres of Bhadradri Kothagudem-Alluri Sitharamaraju divisional committee, the release said.
The identities of the deceased are yet to be established, it said.
Based on inputs that a Maoists team crossed over to Telangana from neighbouring Chhattisgarh, special police parties took up combing in the area when the incident happened, a senior police official told PTI.
The dead included a senior cadre of the Maoists, he said based on preliminary investigation.
Police recovered weapons including two AK-47, one SLR, one .303 rifle, one pistol and magazines, live rounds, kit bags and other materials from the spot, he said. Further investigation was on, police added.