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AP Naxal squad wiped out

Shireen in Hyderabad

An entire armed squad (dalam in Telugu) of the outlawed People's War Group was wiped out in an encounter with the special police -- Greyhounds -- in Medak district skirting Hyderabad on Wednesday night.

According to police sources in Hyderabad, all the 10 members of the Narsapur dalam were killed in the encounter lasting nearly five hours.

Following a tip-off that a group of Naxalites were holding a meeting in their hideout in Chinna Chintakunta village of Narsapur area of Medak district, special police parties rushed to the spot.

On spotting the police parties, the Naxalites opened fire. The police returned the fire, killing 10 Naxalites, including three women, on the spot.

Dalam commander Samanna and his wife Jaya were among those killed. Two constables suffered injuries when the Naxalites lobbed grenades at them.

The police recovered eight weapons from the house where the Naxalites had taken shelter.

The three women members of the Naxalite squad were the first victims of the volley of automatic fire by the police. In all, 250 Greyhound commandos participated in the combing operations.

Top police officials, including Deputy Inspector General of Police (Hyderabad range) J V Ramudu, Superintendent of Police (Greyhounds) V K Singh and Medak Superintendent of Police Dwaraka Tirumala Rao and Special Intelligence Bureau DIG Sriram Tiwari rushed to the spot.

The police said that it was the first major encounter this year. In 1998, the PWG had suffered serious reverses when several of its armed squads -- Annasagar, Giraipally, Gummadidala, Mallial and Banswada dalams -- were wiped out in encounters with the police. The reconstituted Banswada dalam was also annihilated.

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