KATHMANDU, March 21: Maoist rebels fighting to overthrow Nepal's monarchy stormed overnight into a district headquarters, looting a bank and opening a jail, officials said on Sunday.

Army spokesman Colonel Deepak Gurung said 500 Maoists and 18 soldiers and policemen were killed as troops pushed the rebels from Bedi, headquarters of Myagdi district 300 kilometres (180 miles) west of Kathmandu.

There was no immediate way to verify the toll. Previous claims by Nepal's armed forces of inflicting massive casualties during the eight-year insurgency have rarely been independently confirmed.

Maoists on late Saturday blew up the bridge at the entrance to Bedi before hundreds of rebels pushed in from three sides and raided the jail, freeing a number of prisoners, including Maoists, local journalists said.

The guerillas also looted a state-owned bank and bombed the district administrative office before soldiers who had been caught by surprise mobilized to fight them, a security official said earlier.

But Gurung said the troops had prior knowledge of the Maoist plan and had put the troops on alert to repulse the raid, with reinforcements sent in. "We were well prepared and took proper defensive measures," Gurung told reporters.

He said that by Sunday afternoon the situation was under control and the Maoists had absconded." "On the basis of what our people and witnesses saw, we believe over 500 Maoists were killed and 200 others injured," Gurung said, although he acknowledged that communication with the district remained erratic.

"All the government buildings in town are badly damaged except for the army barracks," local television reporter Ramesh Paudel told AFP by telephone. The security official, who asked not to be named, said an army helicopter managed to swoop down despite hostile gunfire and rescue 16 policemen who were taken for medical treatment in the western city of Pokhara. The official said 30 people were unaccounted for, including the district's top official. -AFP