KATHMANDU, Feb 5: Clashes between security forces and Maoists trying to overthrow the constitutional monarchy have left at least 27 people dead in the Himalayan kingdom of Nepal, officials and state radio said on Tuesday.

A government official said Maoists killed 16 policemen early on Tuesday in their deadliest attack on a police post since authorities declared a state of emergency late last year.

State radio said seven guerrillas were also killed in the pre-dawn gun battle, 60 kms east of Kathmandu.

Radio Nepal said security forces had also killed four guerrillas, including three women, in an operation in Kanchenpur district in west Nepal on Monday.

Tuesday’s pre-dawn attack saw the largest single number of policemen killed in a rebel raid since last November when Nepal imposed emergency rule after the militants broke a truce and staged several bloody attacks on police posts.

The rest of the more than 50 policemen who were guarding a road construction project funded by Japan were safe. There were no Japanese at the Banepa-Sindhuli site in the Kavre district when the rebels attacked.

VILLAGERS TERRIFIED: Dipak Rijal, a local journalist, said he could still see “bloodstains scattered over the area” when he visited the site about eight hours after the attack.