At least 41 dead in eastern Nepal clash, Army claims
At least 41 dead in eastern Nepal clash, Army claims
Shusham Shrestha
Agence France-Presse
Kathmandu
At least 41 people were killed in a major gunfight between
security forces and Maoist rebels in a town in eastern Nepal, the
most serious clashes between the sides for months, the army said
on Wednesday.
Army spokesman Col. Dipak Gurung said up to 2,000 armed
Maoists raided the town of Bhojpur, headquarters of a district,
attacked a telecommunications tower and tried to rob a state-run
commercial bank.
He said 31 security personnel and at least 10 Maoists died in
the overnight clash, which began about 9:35 pm (10:50 p.m in
Jakarta) on Tuesday.
The rebels were prevented from taking over the town but
damaged a bank and a telephone communications tower before
fleeing, he told a press conference here.
Gurung said the bodies of 10 Maoists were found at the scene
of the clash, including those of two women. Other bodies were
carried away by the fleeing rebels, he claimed.
Security sources earlier said the fiercest fighting had
occurred around the tower but that rebels had also battled the
security forces in nearby areas to prevent reinforcements from
reaching the site.
"The tower has been completely destroyed," a police official
said, adding that the rebels had looted rocket launchers, self-
loading rifles, semi-automatic rifles and other weapons from the
security forces before fleeing.
Reinforcements had reached the area and were carrying out
search operations for rebels involved in the attack, the official
added.
The assault marked one of the largest attacks by the rebels
since peace talks between the Maoists and the government broke
down in August 2003.
Shortly after the collapse of the negotiations, the Maoists
pulled out of a seven-month cease-fire with the government and
renewed its so-called "people's war" in earnest.
The rebels have been fighting for a communist republic in
Nepal since 1996 and the uprising has so far claimed more than
9,000 lives.
The conflict has turned into one of the world's deadliest with
an average of 13 people killed a day, human rights groups say.
The revolt in the nation, which sits as a buffer between India
and China, is also one of the world's most brutal, with rights
activists accusing both the armed forces and the Maoists of human
rights atrocities.
Human rights groups say the Maoists carry out executions and
kidnappings, torture prisoners, extort money, forcibly conscript
fighters and use child soldiers.
They also accuse the army of secret detentions, torture and
killing innocent civilians.