Maoists killed three policemen and looted their sophisticated weapons whereas five others are still missing with weapons in Dantewada district of Chhattisgarh, a top police officer said.

"After a fierce gun battle with Maoists one head constable was killed where as eight special police officers went missing, out of which the bodies of three SPOs were recovered on Thursday," a top police official said.

The bodies were laying in a hill top, about two km from the site of the gun battle at Banda, about 450 km from the state capital, he said.

The sophisticated weapons carried by the SPOs have also been taken away by the Maoists, the senior officer said.

Police also said the whereabouts of the rest five missing SPOs and their weapons are not known. Maoists ambushed a police party when they were on a combing operation in Konta police station area and killed one head constable on the spot where as eight other personnel went missing, following which police launched a combing operation to trace them.