7 Maoists Killed In Telangana Encounter

Hyderabad: Seven Maoists were gunned down in an encounter in Telangana’s Mulugu district on Sunday.

The encounter, which took place in Eturunagaram and Chalpaka forest area, broke out early in the morning after the anti-Maoist Greyhounds personnel spotted the Maoists and ordered them to surrender.

The Maoists refused to give up and fired at the security forces, forcing them to fire back.

“Today morning, in view of some recent offences, Mulugu police were conducting patrol… At 6.15 am, 10-12 members in Olive green uniform were cited by our party and they continuously opened fire towards our police party. Despite our repeated appeals for surrender, they did not heed it and they continued firing… So, in self-defence, the police party also opened fire towards them. It went on for half an hour. After a thorough search, we found 7 dead bodies. Some weapons have also been recovered,” Mulugu SP Dr Shabarish told ANI.

Among those killed was gang leader 35-year-old Bhadru alias Kursam Mangu. He was the Yellandu-Narsampet area committee commander of the CPI (Maoist) and a member of its Telangana state committee.

The others were 43-year-old Egolapu Mallaiah, 22-year-old Mussaki Deval, 23-year-old Mussaki Jamuna, 25-year-old Jai Singh, 22-year-old Kishore and 23-year-old Kamesh.

The security forces have found AK-47, G3 and INSAS rifles besides other weapons and explosives in the possession of the Maoists. The said weapons have been seized by the police.

It was the first major incident in the area in many years, as the Maoists look to reorganise and revive their activities in Mulugu district.

Ten days ago, two tribal men were killed by the Maoists in Mulugu over suspicion of being police informers.

A note was found with their bodies which stated that the duo was working to collect information and pass it to the state authorities.