An alert has been sounded on the Andhra Pradesh-Telangana and Odisha borders following an exchange of fire between the Greyhounds and the CPI (Maoists) in which 10 Naxalites and a commando were killed on Friday.
The Greyhounds personnel involved in anti-Naxal operations and the intelligence officials spoke with their Telangana, Chhattisgarh and Odisha counterparts and intensified combing operations.
“The police have boundaries but the Naxals don’t. So, we are coordinating with the police of the neighbouring States to prevent entry of dalam members into the adjacent forests,” a police officer said.
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Security has been stepped up at the police stations, government offices and at the houses of the public representatives. Leaders, who were in the Maoists’ hit list, had been asked not to visit isolated places, the officer said.
“The Chhattisgarh encounter is a major blow to the Maoists, who suffered a severe setback in the Ramaguda encounter on the Andhra-Odisha Border (AOB) in 2016. But they are regrouping and targeting some villagers, branding them police informers and resorting to arson in Sukma, Malkangiri, Bijapur and other stronghold areas,” an official said.
The Greyhounds and the anti-Naxal parties of Telangana, Chhattisgarh and Odisha had been carrying out combined combing operations since Friday night.
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The police kept a vigil on the clinics and the RMP and the PMP doctors in the tribal hamlets in Bhadradri Kothagudem, Jayashankar Bhupalapalli and East Godavari district expecting that the injured Maoists might visit the clinics.