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KATHMANDU, May 4: Nepal’s defence ministry said on Saturday its troops killed an estimated total of 396 Maoist rebels, fighting to topple the monarchy and establish communist rule, in major military operations over the past two days.
Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba had on Friday rejected an offer from the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) for resumption of peace talks.
“It is estimated that up to 350 terrorists may have died in the forceful action by security forces at the hideout and training centre in Rolpa,” the defence ministry said in a statement.
The army crackdown in Rolpa, 450 km west of Kathmandu, was the biggest since the rebellion by guerrillas of the communist party began six years ago. The ministry had earlier put the rebel death toll in the district at 50.
The ministry said the estimate was based on information given by local people and injured rebels who were arrested during the operations.
The rebels walked out of talks and broke a truce in November, prompting a state of emergency and the deployment of the army.
The bloody conflict, in which more than 4,000 people have been killed, has threatened the stability of the country’s multi-party democracy.
The rebellion that started in early 1996 has crippled Nepal’s aid-dependent economy and hit tourism in the scenic nation home to Mount Everest and the birthplace of Lord Buddha.
Nepal is also still recovering from last year’s palace massacre in which Crown Prince Dipendra shot dead his father, King Birendra, and most other members of the royal family before killing himself.
ATTACK FROM COPTERS: Nepal said its troops had dropped from helicopters in the search for rebels in the west after killing at least 90 Maoist guerrillas fighting to topple the constitutional monarchy.
“We have intensified the search for rebels and the weapons they had looted from security forces in the past,” Junior Home (interior) Minister Devendra Raj Kandel told Reuters.
He said troops had been dropped by helicopters in the Lisne area of Rolpa, the site of this week’s deadly battle.
“Soldiers are now surrounding the hill-top jungle site (of this week’s battle) in Rolpa and have blocked exits.”
Rolpa is the epicentre of the six-year-old Maoist rebellion that has so far claimed over 3,800 lives in the Himalayan kingdom. It is about 450 km west of the capital, Kathmandu.
Officials said at least 90 Maoist insurgents fighting to set up a communist republic were killed in two overnight assaults by government forces on Thursday. The government has since rejected a rebel offer to resume peace talks.
This week’s battles were among the deadliest and the rebel toll was the highest since some 250 guerrillas were believed killed in neighbouring Dang district in April.
The Maoist rebellion that started in early 1996 has crippled Nepal’s aid-dependent economy and hit tourism in the scenic nation home to Mount Everest and the birthplace of Lord Buddha.
PLEA TO REVIEW BORDER: A Nepalese parliamentary committee instructed the government to review the open border with India in view of increasing cross border terrorism and crime, the Nepali language daily “Kantipur” reported Saturday.
The powerful State Affairs Committee (SAC) of the Nepalese parliament Friday sent a letter to Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba instructing the government to conclude an extradition treaty with India.
The SAC instructions follows the growing perception among the Nepalese that top Maoists leaders are operating from India and that India was not doing enough to locate and hand them over to Nepal.
Nepal and India share a border more than 1,000 kilometres long which is open.
The two-page-long parliamentary committee letter has also asked the government to keep records of all Nepalese serving with or retired from the British and Indian armies.
The SAC wants the government to initiate steps to stop pension payments of any of the personnel retired from the two armies who indulge in terrorist activities.—Reuters/dpa
