Four women Maoists were killed during an alleged exchange of fire with Odisha police in Koraput district bordering Andhra Pradesh, an official said on Monday.
The Maoists were killed during a joint combing operation conducted by Special Operation Group (SOG) and District Voluntary Force (DVF) at Dokari ghati in the district on Sunday night.
While the deceased are yet to be identified, they are members of the Andhra-Odisha Special Zonal Committee of CPI (Maoist), said Inspector General of Police (anti-Maoist operations), RP Koche. He added that combing operations are still on in the area.
"All the deceased are women and are Maoists cadre. But we are yet to identify them. The search operation is still on," Koche said.
Earlier this month, the greyhounds personnel in a joint operation with the Chhattisgarh police had gunned down 10 Maoists, out of which seven were women.
The slain Maoists were identified as Dadaboina Swamy alias Prabhakar, Ithu, Budri, Rame, Mallesh, Kamala, Kosi, Sukki, Ratna and Sombi.
In this alleged encounter, a greyhounds constable, B Sushil Kumar, was also killed.
In retaliation, the Maoists torched the Telangana state RTC bus and few other vehicles in Sukhma district of Chhatisgarh.