Six Maoists, including two women, were killed and two police commandos were injured on Thursday in an encounter in the Neeladrigutta forest area in Telangana’s Bhadradri Kothagudem district.

The two commandos of the Greyhounds — the elite anti-Maoist force of Telangana police — sustained gunshot injuries in the exchange of fire and were shifted to a hospital.

Sources said the gunfight broke out near Neelandrigutta hillock when a police party was out on a combing operation in the forest area in the morning.

Acting on a tip-off that a Maoist team had crossed over to Telangana from neighbouring Chhattisgarh, special police parties took up combing in the area when the encounter took place.

The police team warned the Maoists to stop firing, but when they didn’t, the police returned fire in self-defence. After the firing stopped from the Maoists, the police searched the area and found six bodies, clad in olive green clothes, a media release from the police said.

The six deceased were Maoist cadres of the Bhadradri Kothagudem-Alluri Sitharamaraju Divisional Committee, the release said.

The identities of the deceased are yet to be established.

The police recovered weapons, including two AK-47, one SLR, one .303 rifle, one pistol and magazines from the spot, it said.