Five Naxalites were killed in an encounter with security forces in Maharashtra's Gadchiroli district on Monday, police said.

The gunfight, in which commandos of the C-60 specialised combat unit of the Gadchiroli police played a leading role, took place in a forest in Bhamragadh taluka in the eastern Maharashtra district and comes just one month ahead of the state assembly polls.

A press release issued by the office of the Gadchiroli Superintendent of Police (SP) said in view of the November 20 elections, a group of Naxalites had gathered in the forest on the Maharashtra-Chhattisgarh border for the last two days and was planning an attack.

The area where the gathering was taking place borders Narayanpur, a Naxal-hit district in the Bastar region of Chhattisgarh, an official told PTI over the phone.

As many as 22 teams of C-60 commandos and two squads of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) under the supervision of senior officials launched an anti-Naxal operation from two different points in the forest area, said the release.

As soon as the police and CRPF personnel reached the area where Maoists had gathered, they faced indiscriminate fire from Naxalites. The security personnel immediately retaliated and in the ensuing exchange of fire, five Maoists were killed, said the release, citing preliminary information.

A search operation was underway in the forest, it said.

The identities of the slain Naxalites will be disclosed at a press conference in Gadchiroli on Tuesday, according to the release.

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