India, Feb. 2 -- An Area Committee Member (ACM) of the banned CPI (Maoist) and members of its Militia Company were among the eight Maoists killed in Saturday's encounter between them and security forces in Chhattisgarh's Bijapur district, police said on Sunday. The death toll is likely to go up and the search is in progress, they added.

Officials said that a Maoist camp was destroyed during the encounter and security forces have recovered one INSAS rifle, two 12-bore guns, one BGL launcher, along with weapons and a large cache of Maoist materials from the encounter site.

"The Maoists killed in the encounter belonged to the Gangloor Area Committee of the West Bastar Division, including ACM and Militia Company members," said the inspector...