Palakkad (Kerala), Oct 28 IANS): Three alleged Maoists, including a woman, were shot dead by Kerala Police's Thunderbolt team after an exchange of fire in the forests in Kerala's Palakkad on Monday, officials said.

Sources close to the police said the three killed were not Keralites and hailed from neighbouring states.

The Thunderbolt team had gone for combing operations inside the forests after reports about presence of Maoists there.

According to reports, a seven-member team of Maoists, seeing the Thunderbolt team, opened fire on them but in the retaliatory fire, three ultras were shot down and the rest managed to escape back into the forests.

However, the Congress MP from Palakkad, V.K. Sreekandan, urged the Kerala government to come clean on what was happening as, according to his information, there have been no reports of Maoists in the forests.

"This could well be a ploy to divert attention from the huge onslaught that the Kerala government is facing in the way the police handled the case of the murder of two young girls near here, which helped the accused to walk free as the court acquitted them for want of evidence," he said.