Mumbai, Jan. 4: Battling Maoists through eight days in dense jungles on the Maharashtra-Chhattisgarh border, police claim to have shot dead five guerrillas including a deputy commander, injured five and arrested 15.

Two policemen were killed in the gunbattles, which busted a jungle training camp about 10 km from Kanoli village in Gadchiroli district, Maharashtra police chief P.S. Pasricha said today.

“The operation indicates we have adopted a pro-active approach, and taken the battle to their (Maoists’) camp,” Pasricha told reporters, adding that two of the 15 arrested were key leaders of the dalams (units) active along the porous Maharashtra-Chhattisgarh-Andhra Pradesh borders.

A huge stockpile of arms and explosives was seized in the operation, one of the biggest ever against Naxalites, and a hunt is on to capture the five injured rebels.

“Considering the tough terrain that includes deep jungles and ravines, it is a difficult operation. The gunbattle is still on, and it will be on till we get the last man,” the director-general said at state police headquarters.

The search of the jungles is being led by Shirish Jain, the Gadchiroli superintendent of police. The guerrillas tried to ambush his team with a landmine blast but the policemen survived the attempt.

The seizures include an 8mm rifle, two 12-bore rifles, landmines, detonators and wires. “The seizure of the 8mm rifle indicates that we have got a key operative,” Pasricha said, explaining that these guns are used only by the commanders and deputy commanders among the Maoists.

Anti-Naxalite operations in Maharashtra received a boost after the state provided the police with anti-landmine vehicles and announced a surrender scheme that offers to rehabilitate tribals disillusioned with Maoist violence.

Pasricha said the state was also considering a special action group ? a trained unit of commandos equipped with sophisticated technology and weapons ? to fight the rebels. The unit would take at least a year to set up.

Maharashtra witnessed a growth in Maoist violence in 2005, though only tribal-dominated Gadchiroli has been affected so far. State intelligence officials say the district is mainly used for refuge by Maoist leaders when police step up the heat in neighbouring Chhattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh.