Nayagarh:
Blaming the state government for the recent Naxal attacks, Orissa police associations have demanded adequate fortification of police stations and armouries in the state.
They have also asked the state government to declare the entire state as Naxal-prone.
Earlier, Orissa Home secretary Tarun Mishra said that 20 Maoists and three policemen have died in the exchange of fire between the two sides.
The firing between Maoist guerillas, police and paramilitary forces in Orissa has been on since Saturday night near Galeri in the Nayagarh-Kandhmal corder.
However, the bodies of the Naxalites have not been recovered.
The battle comes after at least 500 Maoists in plain clothes stormed two armouries in Nayagarh on Friday night.
Not only did they kill 15 people, including 13 police personnel, they also made off with huge quantities of arms and ammunition including AK-47 machine guns and INSAS automatic rifles, which is the standard weapon of soldiers in the Indian Army.
The CRPF, state police and members of the Special Operations Group are trying to encircle the forested area, where the Naxals are operating.