Hyderabad, Aug 9 (IANS): The Andhra Pradesh government Tuesday extended for another year the ban on the Communist Party of India (Maoist) and six of its frontal organisations, officials said.

The government issued orders extending the ban on CPI (Maoist) and its frontal organizations under the Andhra Pradesh Public Security Act. The ban was to lapse Aug 16.

The frontal organizations of CPI (Maoist) are Radical Youth League, Rythu Coolie Sangham, Radical Students Union, Singareni Karmika Samakhya, Viplava Karmika Samakhya and All India Revolutionary Students Federation.

The government had lifted ban on the then People's War Group (PWG) in 2004 to facilitate a ceasefire and the first-ever direct peace talks with the Maoists. During the talks, PWG merged with Maoist Communist Centre (MCC) to form CPI (Maoist).

The ban on CPI (Maoist) and its frontal organizations was re-imposed Aug 17, 2005 following the killing of the then Congress legislator C. Narsi Reddy and nine others by Maoists in Mahabubnagar district on Independence Day. The killings followed the failure of peace talks and collapse of the nine-month-long ceasefire.

CPI (Maoist), the most powerful of Maoist groups in the country, has considerably weakened in Andhra Pradesh during the last six years as it lost its top leaders in anti-Maoist operations by the police and the elite anti-Maoist force Greyhounds.