Eight Maoists, including six women, were killed in an encounter with the police in Nallamala forests in Andhra Pradesh on Tuesday evening. 

In a separate incident, Maoists hacked to death a local leader in protest against 'encounter killings' of their cadres.

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A state police spokesman said the encounter took place in the deep Nallamala forests in Amrabad area in Mahbubnagar district.

On a tip-off that a group of Maoists were holding a meeting in the forests, special police parties comprising Greyhounds
(specially-trained elite commandos) took up combing operations in the area.

The Greyhound commandos came face to face with the Maoists at around 4 pm.

When the police asked them to surrender, they opened fire. The police retaliated with gunfire.

In the ensuing exchange, eight Maoists were killed. Five weapons were recovered from the encounter site. 

The police identified the slain Maoists as members of Nallamala forest Achampet dalam (armed squad), including dalam commander Mahesh, deputy commander Swarupa and dalam members Suguna, Padma, Pushpa and Indira.

The police have identified combing operations in the Maoist-affected areas in the state in view of the Panchayat Raj (local rural bodies) elections being held in two phases on June 28 and July 2.

The polls are scheduled in Mahbubnagar district in July 2. The police have identified a total of 1,919 villages all over the state as Maoist-affected.    

In another incident, Maoists attacked single window (primary agricultural cooperative society) president D Anjana Verma with sickles in Satyanarayanapuram village in Cherla mandal in Khammam district.

He was rushed to a nearby hospital where he succumbed to injuries.

Maoists blasted some houses under construction under the weaker sections housing scheme of the government.  

The incident was in retaliation to the encounter killings of some top Maoist leaders in the state in recent days.

The Communist Party of India-Maoist also called for a state-wide bandh (general strike) on Tuesday against the killings of its cadres by the police.

But the bandh evoked no response, except in a few areas.