Nine, including six women Maoists killed in encounter

Kadapa, Apr 28 (UNI) In a major blow to the naxals in the state, nine Maoists, including six women, were killed in an alleged encounter with Greyhounds, the elite counter insurgency police force, at the Sundampalli mandal near Rayachoti bordering the Kadapa and Chittoor districts of Andhra Pradesh today.

The deceased Maoists were yet to be identified but police indicated that they could be top leaders of CPI(Maoists) from the Kadapa-Anantapur region.

A huge cache of arms was seized after the hour-long encounter when the Greyhounds were combing the forest area. They came face to face with the Maoists reportedly belonging to the Kadapa-Anantapur region. Twenty five kit bags, 38 rockets, one claymore mine, one tin bomb, a sten gun and .303 pistols were seized from the site of the alleged encounter.

Six drums of water at the site indicated that the Maoists were holding a major political camp or arms training course, police said.

Search was underway to nab the other Maoists who had possibly escaped after the encounter, they said.

UNI DB VV Mir KN1420