KATHMANDU: Nepali Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba will seek more assistance from India to stamp out a deadly Maoist revolt during a five-day visit to New Delhi which began on Wednesday, officials said.

India, Nepal's giant southern neighbour, has been a key ally in Kathmandu's efforts to quell an increasingly violent insurgency that has killed more than 10,000 people in less than a decade and squeezed the economy of one of the world's poorest countries.

India is also Nepal's largest foreign investor and accounts for almost half of its total trade. "The visit is expected to ... solicit the goodwill of the government of India to resolve the Maoist problem," Nepal's cabinet spokesman, Mohammed Mohsin, told reporters, but did not elaborate.

The Royal Nepal Army needs everything from helicopters to boots, Nepali defence officials said. India has supplied arms, ammunition, anti-mine trucks, helicopters and trained troops in the past.

"We need more anti-mine trucks to increase highway patrols because the Maoists have been targeting major highways," one senior Nepali defence officer said. "Besides, deliveries have to be quicker."

New Delhi's help is also required to step up border patrols along the porous 1,580-km India-Nepal frontier to stop the smuggling of arms by the Maoists and cross-border movement of guerrillas, officials said.

The rebels are fighting to topple the constitutional monarchy and establish communist rule. New Delhi wants to see an early end to the Maoist revolt, fearing a spill-over of the violence across the border into regions where Indian rebel groups operate.

The Maoist insurgency has also forced thousands to flee their homes with many going to India in search of work. Spokesman Mohsin said Deuba, during his meetings in India, would seek to rebuild the confidence of businessmen shaken by a series of Maoist threats in recent weeks.

On Tuesday a labour union closely linked to the Maoists threatened 35 firms to close indefinitely in an apparent move to bolster their campaign. Last month, the Maoists called for a road blockade of hill-ringed Kathmandu, disrupting food and supplies to the capital for seven days as most vehicles stayed off the highways for fear of rebel attacks. -Reuters