Three soldiers of Indo Tibetan Police force were killed today in an encounter with the Maoists in Maharashtra Gadchiroli district. The encounter which took place in Kohka village of Dhanora tehsil in the district bordering Chhattisgarh around noon also claimed the lives of two school children and a cook of a residential school who were caught in the cross fire between the security forces and the Maoists. Ten other school children who were injured in the cross fire have been shifted to the nearby hospital for medical care. Meanwhile, additional security forces have been pressed into service for combing operations in the nearby Naxal strongholds of the district and the border with Chhattisgarh has been sealed to prevent escape of the Naxals.