Five persons, including the founder of local militant group Tehreek-Ghalba-e-Islam (TGI) Viqaruddin Ahmed, were today killed in an encounter with police in Telangana's Warangal district.

The encounter took place near Janagaon in Warangal, around 80 kms from here, when Ahmed and four of his associates tried to snatch weapons from the escort police while they were being brought to a court in Hyderabad from Warangal Central Prison, police inspector V Satish said.

The police are still trying to ascertain the details of the incident, he said.