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Maoists kill 60 policemen in Nepal

Pushpa Adhikari in Kathmandu

Maoist rebels shot dead 60 policemen in western Nepal's Bajura district early on Monday morning in the worst assault on government forces in six years of insurgency, Maoist sources said.

The rebels attacked a police outpost in Pandusen village in Bajura, 600 km west of Kathmandu, and closed all exit points before opening fire, they said.

The army has cordoned the area and helicopters have been sent to rescue any surviving policemen. The outpost has been completely destroyed.

This is the latest in a series of attacks on government forces over the past few weeks by Maoist insurgents, who are fighting to establish a republic in Nepal.

On July 7, the rebels attacked a police outpost in Lamjung district in western Nepal, killing 22 policemen. They also killed 12 policemen in Nuwakot district, adjoining Kathmandu, the same morning.

The rebels have already declared they will not hold talks with the faction of the ruling Nepali Congress party led by former prime minister Girija Prasad Koirala, who resigned under political pressure Thursday.

The latest attack will be the first test for Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba. He has so far expressed confidence in solving Nepal's six-year-old insurgency problem through talks.

"Maoists must have undertaken Monday's attack to put pressure on the new prime minister to start negotiations. But it is a shocking incident in the wake of Koirala's resignation as prime minister," a political analyst said.

"We are ready to hold talks with any prime minister who is not aligned with Koirala," a source close to the Maoist movement said.

Meanwhile, the two-week long standoff with the Maoists in Rolpa in far western Nepal ended with the army, which was instructed to rescue 72 policemen taken hostage by the rebels, withdrawing from the area. Twenty-two of the hostages have so far been freed.

Indo-Asian News Service

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