KOZHIKODE: Thunderbolts, Kerala's anti-Naxal force, has taken two Maoists into custody after an exchange of fire at Chapparath tribal colony under Thalapuzha police station limits in Wayanad district on Tuesday night.
It is learnt that the Maoists under custody are Chandu and Unnimaya, members of the Banasura branch of the Maoists.
Four Maoists had arrived at the house of a person named Anish living in the colony asking for food and to recharge their mobiles. Officials of the Thunderbolts who had been tracking the movements of the Maoists quickly surrounded the house and asked them to surrender.
Police say they fired in the air to force the Maoists to come out of the house and that they were forced to return fire when the Maoists opened fire at them.
Two Maoists escaped from the scene while Chandru and Unnimaya were detained by the police.
Police have started combing operations to nab those who fled.
Anish alias Thambi, hailing from Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu, is suspected to be the link between the Maoists operating in the forests and their counterparts in the cities.
Meanwhile, a Maoist cadre was arrested from Koyilandi in Kozhikode district on Tuesday afternoon.