'Hundreds killed' in Nepal battle
Hundreds of rebels and at least 18 police and soldiers were killed in some of Nepal’s fiercest fighting since a ceasefire collapsed more than seven months ago, government officials said today.
It happened when rebels swarmed into Beni, a mountain town 175 miles west of the capital Katmandu, around midnight, and fought with security forces for nearly 12 hours before they were chased away by reinforcements.
The rebels had attacked the town’s jail, bombed the district administration office and set fire to the police station.
They also attacked an army camp using automatic rifles and mortars, Royal Nepalese Army Spokesman Colonel Deepak Gurung said.
Gurung said 11 army soldiers and seven policemen were killed in the fighting, and that two soldiers and 16 policemen were injured.
“We believe at least 500 rebels could have died in the encounter,” Gurung said. It was virtually impossible independently to confirm the army’s claim because the area was sealed off by the soldiers.
Gurung said eyewitnesses saw the rebels carrying away dead fighters and even dumping some of them in a river.
The guerrillas also bombed a bridge on the road leading to the town and knocked down the telecommunications tower.
Military helicopters from Katmandu flew to the area to provide air support and reinforcements also arrived from the army’s regional command centre, officials said.
Fighting between the rebels and government soldiers has escalated since the insurgents withdrew from a seven-month ceasefire last August after three rounds of peace talks.
The two sides failed to break an impasse over the rebels’ demands for a special elected assembly to draft a new constitution, and to decide if Nepal’s king should continue as a constitutional monarch.
The rebels say they are inspired by Chinese revolutionary leader Mao Zedong and have been fighting since February 1996 to replace Nepal’s monarchy with a communist state. The insurgency has claimed more than 9,000 lives.
