Eight Maoists from the CPI (CP-Baata) were killed in an overnight encounter with the police in Tekulapalli forest of Telangana's Bhadradri Kothagudem district.
The encounter began on Wednesday night and continued until the early hours of Thursday.
The encounter broke out during a combing operation by a special team of the district police.
Superintendent of Police Amber Jha said that they had been receiving inputs about the movement of Maoists in the forests.
Local businessmen and contractors were facing extortion threats from these Maoists.
"We got specific inputs about their movement in the Tekulapalli and Paloncha forest areas. We rushed our special forces there, which resulted in an encounter," Jha said. The combing operation is still underway.
Those killed include Vetti Kumar alias Rakhi, the area committee secretary, Esam Naresh alias Sudarsan, the area commander, Bhukhya Narasimha, Rasheed, Mekala Samaiah, Ramaswamy, Boina Omprakash and Tirukuluri Madhu.
Three Maoists who were injured in the encounter are missing
The police confiscated several weapons, including an SLR, two 8 mm rifles and two SBBL guns.
The killings have dealt a strong blow to the CPI (CP-Baata), a newly formed outfit, while it was regrouping after its mother group was wiped.
Apart from CPI (CP-Baata), CPI (New Democracy) and CPI (Jana Sakthi) are active in the Bhadradri area.
On September 21, two New Democracy cadres were killed in an encounter in the same block. However, some members have surrendered in the recent past.
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