KATHMANDU, Jan 22: A weekend clash between Maoist rebels and Nepalese security forces has left 14 rebels, five soldiers and one police officer dead, the army said on Sunday. “Security forces recovered at least 14 Maoist corpses with weapons, and six security personnel were also killed,” said an official from army headquarters who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The fighting took place late Saturday in the Faparbari area of Makwanpur district, some 180km west of Kathmandu.

“The Maoists attacked patrolling troops, and a gunfight ensued,” the army official said.

He declined to give any further details of the clash which came a week after Maoist attacks on a number of targets around the capital left 12 police officers dead.

On Saturday, an alliance of seven political parties who are opposed to King Gyanendra led a demonstration in the capital that ended with hundreds of arrests.

Police arrested 236 people, an officer said. Journalists and other eyewitnesses reported seeing some 300 demonstrators rounded up and bundled into police vans.

Security in the capital remained tight Sunday ahead of a nationwide strike call by the parties for Thursday.

The parties have also called for a boycott of local elections planned for Feb 8 by Gyanendra, who seized total power a year ago.

Citing the threat of Maoist violence, the government last week banned street protests, cut mobile telephone services, imposed a daytime curfew on Friday and arrested hundreds of activists.

Maoist rebels — who have fought a decade-long “people’s war” that has left more that 12,000 people dead in the impoverished Himalayan kingdom — have so far not joined the protests.

They ended a four-month unilateral ceasefire in early January that has led to a spike in violence.

Last November, the seven political parties entered a loose alliance with the rebels, asking them to refrain from violence.

—AFP