Fresh encounter begins in Malkangiri, 2 Naxals killed

At least two Maoists were killed on Thursday morning during a joint combing operation by the Greyhound commandos of Andhra Pradesh police and Special Operation Group (SOG) and District Voluntary Force (DVF) of Odisha police in Panasput jungle in Odisha’s Malkangiri district.

With this, the total number of Maoists killed in police encounter since Monday has gone up to 30.

Report said a top Maoist leader was captured during the combing operation.

However, Visakhapatna superintendent of police (rural) Rahul Dev Sharma, dismissed the report and said no one was captured.

“No Maoist leader has been captured on Thursday,” said SP Sharma.

One of the two Maoists killed in Thursday’s encounter included a woman.

The police seized two guns from the encounter site.

Visakhapatnam SP Sharma, who is currently in Malkangiri, along with the local SP Mitrabhanu Mohapatra, is supervising the combing operation.

The police on Wednesday had returned bodies of seven Maoists to their family members who had come from Andhra Pradesh. Among others, the bodies of the slain rebels handed over to their family members included that of Munna, son of Maoist Central Committee member Ramakrishna alias RK.

Ramakrishna’s wife Sirisha aka Padma received the body of Munna.

Reports said family members of the other deceased whose bodies are lying in the district hospital mortuary have arrived in Malkangiri. They will be handed over the bodies after completion of all formalities. No reports were available on the number of bodies of the slain ultras handed over to their family members and relatives on Thursday. Despite repeated attempts, Malkangiri and Visakhapatna SPs could not be reached as their mobile phones remained switched off.