Dreaded Maoist Hidma killed in encounter in AP

Five others, including his wife, gunned down by security forces near C’garh-Andhra border

- EJAZ KAISER & DHARMENDRA REGANA @Raipur/ Visakhapatnam

DREADED Maoist commander Madvi Hidma, the mastermind behind some of the deadliest Naxal strikes including the 2010 Tadmetla attack which killed 76 security personnel, was killed in an encounter near the Chhattisgarh-Andhra Pradesh border on Tuesday.

Security forces gunned down Hidma (51), his wife Madkam Raje, and four other Naxalites in Maredumilli forest in Andhra Pradesh’s Alluri Sitarama Raju (ASR) district. The other slain Maoists were identified as Deve, Lakmal alias Chaitu, Malla alias Mallalu, and Kamlu alias Kamlesh, officials said.