DHAKA: Around 14 Maoists belonging to Tritiya Prastuti Committee (TPC), a breakaway faction of the CPI Maoists, were killed in a fierce gunbattle with the CPI Maoists rebels in Kauriya village in Palamu district on Saturday.

Jharkhand police said, reports The Times of India.

Police have not been able to find out if anyone belonging to the CPI Maoist outfit was also killed or injured in the gunbattle.

The gunbattle started early Saturday and continued for hours.

However, the death of the 14 TPC rebels has not been independently confirmed.

‘We have information that 14 Naxalites have been killed in Palamu. We have not recovered any of their bodies yet,’ said Jharkhand police spokesman Anurag Gupta.

A police officer in Bishrampur said that Maoists have run away with the arms of the slain rebels.

‘We have received inputs from the ground zero that the Maoists are also trying to take away the dead bodies,’ said Palamu DSP Ajay Kumar.

A counter offensive against the rebels or a search operation by security forces is yet to be launched in the area.

‘We have rushed security forces to the place where the encounter took place. The encounter has stopped now,’ said Anurag Gupta.

Formed in 2002, TPC has indulged in many bloody clashes with the CPI Maoists in Jharkhand. The militant outfit has declared in the past that Maoists are its enemy.

BDST: 1328 HRS, AUG 09, 2014