India, Nov. 18 -- Madvi Hidma, also known by aliases such as Hidmalu and Santosh, was one of India's most wanted Maoist commanders, a figure whose name became synonymous with some of the deadliest attacks in the country's decades-long insurgency.

On Tuesday, security forces killed him in an operation in the bordering area of Chhattisgarh and Andhra Pradesh, marking what they describe as one of the most significant blows to the outlawed CPI (Maoist) in recent years.

Hidma, a native of Sukma district in Chhattisgarh, had spent nearly twenty years rising through the Maoist ranks.

He was widely believed to be the chief of Battalion No. 1, considered the most lethal strike unit of the CPI (Maoist) operating across the dense forests of the D...