Six Maoists believed killed in gun battle in Orissa with security forces

At least six Maoists are believed to have been killed in a gun battle with security forces in Orissa's Koraput district today, police said.

Senior police officers engaged in the anti-Maoist operation at Podapadar area in Narayanpatna said, "On the basis of indications from the encounter site, we anticipate that at least six Maoists have died."

Chief minister Naveen Patnaik also told reporters here, "The police believe that some Maoists have been killed and injured during the encounter with security forces."

"The exchange of fire, which began last night between the rebels and a joint team of the Orissa police, Greyhounds, and BSF in Podapadar forest, about 100km from here, ended this morning after the Maoists fled," Koraput district superintendent of police Anup Kumar Sahoo said.

There are bloodstains and signs of a couple of bodies having been dragged from the site by the extremists while fleeing, Sahoo said.