In a major setback to the banned Communist Party of India (Maoist), at least 12 guerrillas were killed in a gunfight with police in Telangana's Jayashankar Bhupalapally district on Friday. A police constable also lost his life, police said and three personnel of the elite Greyhounds anti-Maoist force were injured. The exchange of fire occurred in the forests near Venkatapuram village on Telangana-Chhattisgarh border in the early hours of Friday. The Maoists received the big jolt in the joint operation by the police of the two states in Tadapalagutta-Pujarikamkedu region on the inter-state border.