KATHMANDU, Oct 1: Suspected Maoist rebels fighting to overthrow Nepal's monarchy tried to assassinate an army officer on Friday and shot at a helicopter carrying goods to one of their mountain strongholds, wounding two people.

A bomb detonated near the house of Colonel Pradip Vikram Rana at Nayachok on Kathmandu's outskirts as he returned home in his jeep, causing minor wounds to Rana's wife but not injuring the officer, police said.

In south western Nepal, a helicopter heading to the central town of Rukum was hit by three bullets soon after it took off in Surkhet and was forced to land in the nearby Indian border city of Nepalgunj, a police official said.

The lead pilot was not injured, but co-pilot Shashi Giri was shot and was undergoing hospital treatment, the official said. He said the helicopter belonged to the private Karnali company and was transporting essential civilian goods to Rukum, a Maoist-dominated mountain town with no reliable road links to urban centres.

The Maoists have fired on helicopters in the past, usually on suspicion they were ferrying troops or weapons, but it was the first time rebels are believed to have inflicted a casualty in such an attack.

The guerrillas enjoy free rein in much of the Himalayan kingdom's countryside and have systematically destroyed symbols of the Kathmandu government's rule such as government offices and bridges.

More than 10,000 people have died in the civil war since 1996. Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba last month asked the Maoists to resume talks that broke down in August 2003, but the rebels responded by questioning whether King Gyanendra and the army supported Deuba's peace initiative. -AFP