Top naxal killed in encounter

In a major setback to the Maoist movement, nine extremists, including a top gun, were killed in an encounter at the Khammam-Chattisgarh border Toda.

Malla Raji Reddy is also believed to be among those killed in the encounter. He carries a reward of RS 12 lakhs on his head and hails from Manthani in Karimnagar district. He has been accused in attack on former chief ministers N Chandrababu Naidu and N Janardhan Reddy.

Apart from Raji Reddy, Sukh Dev alias Palam Bhaskar is also believed to be among those killed. Source say that 303 rifles and other arms and ammunition were recovered from the site of encounter. 

The encounter took place while they were on a combing operation about 15 km from here in the dense forest. Police went on combining operation on information that a large gathering of Maoists is taking place in the forest. They started the operation at around 7.00 there was cross fire for over two hours.

Andhra Grey Hounds, Chattisgarh Special Forces participated in the encounter. The bodies of the naxals are flown by a helicopter to Bhadrachalam for identification. Initial reports suggested that some 16 persons were killed in the encounter.

Meanwhile, Varavara Rao of the Revolutionary Writers Association (RWA) said that the incident in the Khammam forest does not look like an encounter. He said that there were no senior leaders among the dead. He urged the government to provide quality treatment to the tribals injured in the encounter.