Suspected cadres of the Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist) and the specialised ‘Thunderbolt’ team of the Kerala Police, exchanged gunfire inside the Makkimala Forest under Thalappuzha Police Station limits in Wayanad District of Kerala on April 30, reports The Hindu. The incident came to light after tea estate workers informed estate officials that they heard nine rounds of gunshots from an adjacent forest area where the Thunderbolt commandos had been engaged in combing operations for the past six days. A four-member team of the proscribed CPI-Maoist visited the workers of the Kambamala tea estate on April 23 and asked them to boycott the parliamentary elections.