Raipur, Sep 6 (IANS): US President Barack Obama, President Pratibha Patil, Congress chief Sonia Gandhi and her son Rahul... amongst the several leaders whose photographs were found in a deserted Maoist camp in Chhattisgarh, police officials said Tuesday.

The photographs, also including those of Chief Minister Raman Singh and some ministers, were found pasted at a camp in a jungle area in Raipur district that was deserted by Maoists after a fierce 15-minute gun battle, officials at the police headquarters told IANS.

"The Maoists deserted the camp after a brief and intense battle. We found some explosive material, Maoist literature, huge medicines and pictures pasted on paper sheets," an official said.

He added that the pictures were probably just used by Maoist leaders to introduce new recruits to top leaders of the state, country and the world.

The camp was based in Nawagarh area, about 150 km from Raipur. The area comes in the same region where Maoists killed nine policemen, including an additional superintendent of police rank official, in late May.

Others in the picture gallery included Home Minister P. Chidambaram, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati, former Karnataka chief minister B.S. Yeddyurappa, Bharatiya Janata Party's Uma Bharti and even tennis player Sania Mirza.