KATHMANDU, Nov 24: Thirty-seven policemen and soldiers were killed in Nepal as Maoist rebels ended their four-month ceasefire with a series of attacks across the kingdom, the home minister said Saturday.

“Altogether 37 policemen and armymen were killed in Maoist attacks in Dang and Syangja districts yesterday evening,” home minister Khum Bahadur Khadka said.

King Gyanendra held an emergency meeting on the killings with Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba, who was considering sending the army in to contain the rebels, sources said.

Twenty-three policemen were killed in the western Syangja and southwestern Dang districts in bomb attacks on police posts.

And 14 Royal Nepal Army soldiers were killed and 28 injured when around 1,000 armed Maoists attacked a barracks, also in Dang district.

It was the first time in their six-year insurgency that the Maoists had attacked an army post.

Home ministry spokesman Gopendra Bahadur Pandey told AFP that as many as 15 Maoists may have died in the attacks.

“There had been an exchange of fire between the Maoist rebels and the security personnel and there is every possibility that the Maoists have also been killed and injured,” he said.

Rebels also blew up a private airline helicopter at Surkhet airport, 460 kilometres (288 miles) southwest of Kathmandu, officials said.

“Before blowing up the helicopter, the Maoists had cut off the electricity supply in the Surkhet airport tower and within 25 minutes they attacked the Russian-made helicopter belonging to Asian Airways,” a government official said.

In Hetauda, 90 kilometres (56 miles) south of Kathmandu, rebels bombed the district administration office, partially damaging the building, but there were no injuries, police said.

Bombs also went off at government buildings in two northeastern districts and in the western tourist town of Pokhara, but there were no reports of casualties.

Local officials were also taken hostage by the rebels, state-run radio reported.

The rebels also looted two banks in Dang district and fled with money and valuables worth 788,000 dollars, the radio said.

A cabinet source said the government was expected to declare a state of emergency in the worst-affected districts.

“If an emergency is declared in the Maoist-hit areas, the army could be deployed on full scale to combat the Maoist terrorists,” the source said.

The government has previously held back from fully deploying the army to fight the rebels, fearing it could lead to civil war.

Nepal’s political parties pledged to support the government’s efforts against the rebels at a meeting called to assess the country’s security situation after the bloodshed.

More than 1,800 people have died in violence since the rebels started their campaign in 1996 to overthrow Nepal’s constitutional monarchy and establish a Maoist republic.

Hopes had risen that a settlement between the two sides could be reached when a ceasefire was called in July.

Three rounds of peace talks have taken place since then. But this week Maoist party chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal, alias Prachand, warned the ceasefire “could become meaningless” unless the peace process made some headway.

He stopped short, however, of saying the ceasefire had ended.

The talks had stalled over the rebels’ demand for a republic. Earlier this month they said they had “deferred” the demand ahead of a fourth round of talks, which was supposed to take place in the next few weeks.

But the Maoists were still insisting a constituent assembly be formed to redraft the constitution, something the government opposes.

On Friday the Maoists called for a nationwide general strike on Dec 7.

They also announced a 37-member united revolutionary people’s council as their central government.—AFP