Five suspected Maoists,including four women,were killed in an encounter with Orissas elite anti-Maoist force,the Special Operation Group (SoG),and police in the rebel hotbed of Jajpur district early Sunday morning . Jajpur SP DS Kutte said the police were combing Rayghati area in Amka-Kaliapani mining area of the district after receiving intelligence inputs,when they came under fire. There was an exchange of fire after which the Maoists retreated. This morning,we found five bodies lying on the roads and forest, said Kutte. The operation started around 12 on Saturday night and continued till 10 am on Sunday. The Jajpur SP said there was no injury on the police side. The police recovered 12 weapons,including SLRs and countrymade pistols,from the place of encounter,besides Maoist posters,leaflets and booklets. The incident took place nearly 30 kms from the Kalinganagar industrial complex where the anti-displacement tribal body BBJM observed martyrs day in honour of 13 protestors who were killed in police firing five years ago. Tamka-Kaliapani area comes under the Kalinganagar sub-divisional committee of the CPI(Maoist). In the last fortnight,several Maoist cadres have been killed in encounters with the Orissa police. On December 24,three cadres of the CPI-Maoist were killed in an encounter with the SoG at Narayanpatna block in Koraput district. Similarly,on December 18,two CPI-Maoist cadres were killed in an encounter between the Naxalites and SoG in in Sundargarh district.
