Narayanpur/ New Delhi, May 23 -- Twenty-five Maoist cadre deployed for the protection of Nambala Keshav Rao, alias Basavaraju, were among the 27 ultras - along with the top Maoist himself - killed in an encounter with security forces in the Abujhmad jungles of Chhattisgarh on Wednesday, officers aware of the matter said on Thursday. One member of the special zonal committee, Jangua Naveen, was also among those killed, they added. "Twenty-five cadres of People's Liberation Guerrilla Army (PLGA) company number 7 who were given responsibility of guarding Basavaraju were killed in the encounter. We believe they were about 35 in number and the rest of them managed to escape," a senior officer said, requesting anonymity. Company 7 of PLGA, meant for the protection of central committee members and general secretary, usually operates in the Abujhmad area, officers said. "All Maoists killed in the encounter have been identified," Chhattisgarh DGP Arun Dev Gautam said. In all, 12 automatic weapons, three under barrel guns, four .303 and three 12 bore guns were also recovered. Basavaraju, who was gunned down by the security forces on Wednesday at the Boker village within the Abujmad jungles, was hiding in that area for the past 8-10 days, officers said, adding it had become difficult for the 71-year-old general secretary of banned CPI (Maoist) to escape to neighbouring Telangana or Maharashtra. A second senior officer claimed that there was local intel on Basavraju. "The fierce gunfight happened in Boker where there are no motorable roads. It is a hilly spot. The gunfight site is almost 20-25km from Bijapur and 30-35km from Narayanpur district HQ," the officer said. "For the past 8-10 days, we had intel that Basavraju along with other central committee members were camping as they believed it was an interior area, and the forces would be unable to reach the spot. It took the DRG personnel two days to reach the spot of the encounter... the forces had to use chopper services to bring back the 27 bodies," he added....