India, Feb. 23 -- Two Communist Party of India (CPI) (Maoist) cadres carrying a combined bounty of Rs.27.5 lakh were killed in a two-hour gunfight with Special Operations Group (SOG) of the state police in Odisha's Kandhamal district on Sunday.

Security forces are also conducting an extensive combing operation looking for state committee member Shukru alias Krishna, the lone Maoist from Odisha still active in the region.

Police said Jagyesh, an Area Committee Member of the CPI (Maoist)'s Kalahandi-Kandhamal-Boudh-Nayagarh (KKBN) division who carried a bounty of Rs.22 lakh, and Ratna, a party member with a reward of Rs.1.65 lakh on her head were killed in an encounter with the SOG on Kandhamal-Ganjam border.

"Acting on intelligence inpu...