NEW DELHI, June 25: India on Tuesday assured Nepal’s visiting King Gyanendra of military help, including helicopters, to help combat the Maoist insurgency in the Himalayan kingdom, officials said.

Indian Defence Minister George Fernandes, at a one-hour meeting with Gyanendra, agreed to Nepal’s request for helicopters, utility vehicles and mine-proof combat vehicles to fight the rebels, a defence spokesman said.

They also discussed an agreement under which Nepal sends troops for counter-insurgency training at an Indian army school in the northeastern state of Mizoram, the spokesman said.

The Press Trust of India news agency said Delhi may also dispatch experts to Nepal to train troops there. Under a treaty India is the chief supplier of military hardware to Nepal, which is in the throes of the six- year Maoist rebellion that has cost more than 4,300 lives. —AFP