KATHMANDU, Dec 19: Ten soldiers died in fresh clashes in Nepal on Sunday bringing the number of dead to at least 141 in one of the kingdom's most violent weeks in the past six months, an army source said.

Police casualty figures showed 98 Maoists, 39 soldiers and four policemen were killed in separate clashes since December 12. The increasing death toll comes after warnings by observers that human rights are deteriorating in the poverty-stricken Hindu kingdom.

International human rights organizations this week issued fresh warnings about a deteriorating security situation for development and human rights workers as well as ordinary Nepalis.

The fresh deaths occurred on Sunday morning when the Maoist 14th Special Task Force attacked security forces east of the capital. "In the attacks, 10 soldiers and several rebels were killed," the army source said. A Maoist source said 12 soldiers and three rebels had been killed.

Also on Sunday, Maoist rebels abducted more than a dozen police officers after launching a gun and bomb attack on a police station south of the Nepalese capital, police said. A group of rebels stormed the station shortly before noon sparking a gun battle until the police were overpowered and abducted, police said.

There has been a surge in bloodshed ahead of a January government deadline for the rebels to resume peace talks. The government has said if the rebels do not come to the negotiating table by January 13 it would press ahead with long-awaited parliamentary elections. -AFP