Bhubaneswar, Oct. 1: Sundargarh police today arrested seven members of the Peoples' Liberation Front of India (PLFI) from the district's Kukudabahal forest.

The arrested PLFI activists included its zonal committee member Arjun Rana and area commander Karan Sai. Sundargarh's superintendent of police Pinak Mishra said that several weapons, including a carbine, were seized from the arrested rebels who were camping in the Kukudabahal forest close to Kuarmunda in the district. The rebels were active both in Odisha and neighbouring Jharkhand.

Director general of police R.P. Sharma said the arrested PLFI activists included three each from Jharkhand and Odisha and one from Assam. The police will take them on remand for interrogation.

In another development, security forces have stepped up combing in the Maoist strongholds in west and south Odisha. The operation against the Maoists have escalated recently in the wake of the killing of two Maoists, including a woman cadre, near Salepali village in Paikamal police station area of Bargarh district on September 26.

Anti-Maoist drive has been stepped up in west Odisha districts such as Sambalpur, Bargarh and Sundargarh, while intensive combing is also being carried out in southern districts of Malkangiri and Koraput.

On September 28, additional director general of the Border Security Force Arun Kumar, who was on a visit to the state, had said that anti-Maoist operations would be intensified in the 'cut-off' areas of Malkangri. He also underscored the need for similar operations in the bordering areas of neighbouring Chhattisgarh and Andhra Pradesh.

Kumar had said that central paramilitary forces were in constant touch with Odisha police and would intensify their operation using local inputs. Sharma had also held a meeting recently to review the state police's operation against the Maoists who are reportedly trying to penetrate into new areas such as Balangir, Kalahandi and Angul.

The Maoist strongholds in Malkangiri and Koraput districts share borders with both Andhra Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. In February this year, the rebels had triggered a landmine blast in Koraput's Sunki valley killing eight Odisha police drivers who were on their way to Angul. In 2013, they had triggered a similar blast in the valley killing four BSF jawans.

In Malkangiri, which is located beyond the Balimela reservoir, the rebels had killed 28 jawans of Andhra Pradesh's elite Greyhound force when they were trying to cross the reservoir at the end of a combing operation in 2008.

In February 2011, the Maoists had kidnapped the then Malkangiri collector R. Vineel Krishna from this area.