Seven Maoists, including a key leader of the outlawed group with a Rs 20 lakh bounty on his head, were killed in an exchange of fire with the police in Mulugu district of Telangana on Sunday morning, police said.Among those killed was Kursam Mangu alias Bhadru, a Telangana state committee member and the Yellandu-Narsampet area committee secretary of the banned CPI (Maoist), along with a woman cadre, they said, adding that six of the seven slain Maoists were natives of Chhattisgarh.
The exchange of fire took place during a combing operation in the Chalpaka forest area of Eturnagaram mandal, involving Greyhounds, an elite anti-Naxal force of Telangana Police, and the Maoists.