The members of Andhra Pradesh state's elite anti-Naxalite force, the Greyhounds, were missing, feared drowned, when Maoists launched a major attack on a motor launch carrying the police officers. They were on a two-day combing operation in Orissa. The vessel was sunk in a reservoir, a state Interior Ministry official said.

The official said the launch, carrying 60 Greyhounds, two Orissa constables and two boatmen, came under fire from the Maoists' rocket launcher, mortar and light machine gun from a hilltop in Orissa's Malkangiri district Sunday. Maoists are called Naxalites in Indian context, as they started their armed struggle in 1970s from a place called Naxalbari.

"The attack took place near Alampetta village when the Greyhounds were sailing to Chirakonda across the Balimela reservoir on the Andhra border for a joint operation against the Maoists," said Gopal Nanda, director general of police of Orissa.

The launch capsized immediately and its driver was among those killed. Many others sustained bullet injuries. While 25 on board swam ashore, the fate of 37 others is unknown. The federal government rushed 125 men of Central Reserve Police Force for rescue, Nanda said.

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