20 killed in Nepalese rebel attack
Communist rebels killed at least 17 policemen and three soldiers in an overnight assault in western Nepal ahead of today’s one-year anniversary of the king’s absolute rule, officials said.
Scores of policemen and other officials were missing.
The insurgents launched raids on an army camp, police station, jail and government buildings around midnight local time at Tansen, a town about 190 miles west of the capital, Kathmandu.
Soldiers recovered bodies of 17 policemen and three soldiers, said a Royal Nepalese Army spokesman.
About 143 policemen were reported missing after the attack. The police posts in town had 230 police personnel stationed there.
Few details of the fighting were available because communications with Tansen and nearby areas were severed.
Security officials reached by telephone feared there would be casualties, said Gangadutta Awasti, who is the chief government administration officer in neighbouring Rupandehi district.
Army helicopters were able to land and reinforcement had reached the area, Awasti said.
The Maoist rebels have intensified attacks since they ended a unilateral cease-fire on January 2, accusing the government of attacking them and failing to match their suspension of violence.
The strongly oppose King Gyanendra’s seizure of absolute power on February 1, 2005, and have announced plans to disrupt the royalist government’s plans to hold municipal elections next week.
Tansen is also among the areas where the February 8 elections are scheduled. The rebels have issued warnings to candidates to withdraw their names and not to assist in any way.
Meanwhile, King Gyanendra announced today that Nepal would hold parliamentary elections within the next 15 months, and claimed that attacks by rebels had decreased since he assumed direct rule over the Himalayan nation a year ago.
The guerrillas, who say they are inspired by Chinese revolutionary Mao Zedong, began fighting in 1996 to replace the constitutional monarchy with a socialist state. The insurgency has claimed about 12,000 lives.
