KATHMANDU: Maoist rebels raided a major commercial town in west Nepal, setting off a string of explosions at government buildings and police posts in an attack that killed eight people, officials and residents said on Wednesday. The Maoists carried out coordinated attacks late on Tuesday in Nepalgunj, about 500 km west of Kathmandu.

Nepalgunj is the biggest town close to the Maoist heartland in west Nepal and a business centre near the Indian border.

The victims included four Maoists, two policemen, one soldier and a civilian, officials said.

“First there were big explosions and then continuous gunshots,” local journalist Krishna Adhikary said by telephone from Nepalgunj. “The fighting went on for nearly two hours.”

Maoists appeared to have carried away their wounded and dead.

“There are stains of blood and marks of bodies being dragged away,” district administrator Binod Adhikary told Reuters.

The Maoists first tossed bombs at the police posts and then fired from “long range” weapons, one army officer said.

“The security forces countered the attack,” he said.

The Maoists have carried out a series of attacks across Nepal since ending their four-month unilateral ceasefire on Jan. 2, saying the government had provoked them to resume violence by failing to match the truce. More than 80 people have died in insurgency-related violence since then.

The rebels said they would expand their decade-old anti-monarchy revolt to city centres and stop the Feb. 8 municipal elections called by King Gyanendra, who seized power early last year after dismissing the government.

Political parties are boycotting the polls, calling them a ploy by the isolated monarch to give legitimacy to his regime.

The royalist government has vowed not to delay the vote and the Election Commission has asked candidates to file nomination papers on Thursday. But political parties have called for a nationwide shutdown on that day.

On Wednesday, about 50 protesters took to the streets of Patan, near Kathmandu, with banners pinned to a dog and a calf projecting the animals as candidates for the upcoming elections.—Reuters