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Nepalese Maoists kill 50 security personnel

Pushpa Adhikari in Kathmandu

Maoist guerrillas seeking to overthrow the monarchy in Nepal have killed at least 50 security personnel in intensive attacks in a dozen districts across the country.

Nearly 12 soldiers of the Royal Nepali Army are among the casualties, officials said.

Maoists overnight broke a four-month truce to negotiate an end to Nepal's worst civil war, after three rounds of failed negotiations. The Maoist insurgency has claimed about 2,000 lives in six years.

Dang district, some 350 km west of Kathmandu and the constituency of Home Minister Khum Bahadur Khadka, was the worst hit by the attacks.

Heavy casualties were also reported from Syangja district, nearly 300 km west of Kathmandu.

The chief district officer, army battalion commander and police chief of the area have been reported missing since early Saturday morning. Speculation is rife that Maoist rebels might have abducted them.

While the state-run radio put the death toll at 34, a police constable hiding in a journalist's house in Ghorahi, Dang district's headquarters, told Indo-Asian News Service at least 40 policemen, including some officers, were killed in Dang alone.

He said the rebels have destroyed the police office complex and seized arms and ammunition.

A local Dang journalist said firing continued for more than five hours in which many locals were injured, but casualties on the Maoist side were not known.

The rebels escaped with more than Nepalese Rs 60 million looted from a bank and financial institutions in Putalibazzar in Syangja, during a three-hour seize that began at 10 pm on Friday night.

One person was injured Saturday in Tulsipur in Dang when a bomb left behind by rebels exploded in the town, an official said.

King Gyanendra, also the supreme commander-in-chief of the Royal Nepali Army, summoned Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba to the royal palace on Saturday despite a weekend holiday for a briefing following the outbreak of fresh violence, a palace announcement said.

Deuba, also defence minister, convened an emergency meeting of the National Defence Council, on whose recommendation the king would deploy the army, if needed.

The NDC comprises the prime minister, defence minister, and the chief of army staff.

A high-level army official said the king might preside over the NDC meeting, as the army chief, General Prajwalla SJB Rana, left for Germany Friday on a week-long visit.

Maoists launched coordinated attacks on police posts, government buildings and business houses nationwide. They also freed inmates from a prison in Putalibazzar in Syangja after overpowering prisoners.

The Maoists had launched their people's war in 1996 to establish a republic, but dropped their demand earlier this month before the third round of peace negotiations to help find an end to the insurgency.

The third round, which took place November 13 ended in a stalemate with the government refusing to concede the rebels second demand -- the election of a constitutional assembly to draft a new constitution.

Maoist rebel leader Pushpa Kamal Dahal issued a statement November 21 signalling that his group was putting off the peace talks.

Two days after his statement, Maoist guerrillas made daring attacks in more than a dozen of the nation's 75 administrative districts causing extensive damage to property.

Indo-Asian News Service

Earlier Report:
Nepal Maoists kill 34 securitymen

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