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KATHMANDU, May 28: At least 152 Maoist rebels and five soldiers have been killed in a fierce clash in southwestern Nepal, army officials said on Tuesday.
An army spokesman said a group of about 500 guerillas attacked a security post overnight in Khara village in Rukum, 320 kilometres southwest of Kathmandu.
“The army fought very bravely with the rebels which forced the terrorists to run away leaving behind some automatic guns, self-loading rifles (SLR’s) and explosives on the scene, a defence ministry press release said.
“More than 152 bodies of Maoists have been recovered so far,” state-run radio reported on Tuesday evening.
Cabinet sources said 10 civilians were also killed while 20 soldiers were injured in the clash before being flown to Kathmandu for treatment.
The violence came as King Gyanendra Monday night extended by three months a state of emergency imposed to tackle the Maoist insurgency after it expired at midnight on Saturday. The emergency was first introduced in November after the guerrillas broke a four month ceasefire and pulled out of peace talks.
It gives local authorities and security forces wide powers to detain and interrogate suspected Maoists and impose curfews, measures critics say are draconian and which have not stopped the rebels.
The rebels have been fighting for a communist republic in Nepal since 1996 and the insurgency has so far claimed more than 4,000 lives, with half the deaths coming in recent months.
The extension of the emergency has split the ruling Nepali Congress party, with caretaker prime minister Sher Bahadur Deuba Sunday being expelled for his decision to dissolve parliament and call elections two years early.
He apparently asked the king last week to dissolve the 205-member lower house of parliament and call elections for November 13 after his own party refused to back him over extending the emergency.
EARLY ELECTION: The president of Nepal’s ruling party claimed on Tuesday it would not be possible to hold early elections because of a worsening law and order situation across the country.
Last week Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba dissolved the 205-member lower house of parliament and called elections for Nov 13 — two years ahead of schedule.
His decision angered senior leaders of his Nepali Congress (NC) party and Deuba was Sunday expelled from the party for three years, although he stays on as premier.
NC president and former prime minister Girija Prasad Koirala is Deuba’s arch rival and was instrumental in the decision to expel him.
“To hold the general elections on November 13 is not possible due to the current law and order situation of the country,” Koirala said, adding Deuba did not consult his party colleagues or even his own cabinet first, Koirala charged.
Deuba’s decision to call early elections came after parliament looked set to defeat him over extending a state of emergency, which was first introduced in November last year to combat increasing violent Maoist rebels.
Koirala and opposition parties argued that to do so was undemocratic and unnecessary as existing anti-terrorist laws could be used against the guerrillas.
“Deuba dissolved the parliament through the king hastily to extend the emergency rule in the name of fighting against terrorism,” Koirala said.
However, the emergency, which expired on Saturday, was extended by a further three months by a special royal decree on Monday.
Meanwhile, the NC is facing a damaging split between two factions led by Koirala and Deuba.
Minister for physical planning and public works Chiranjibi Wagle said the future of the party was in Koirala’s hands and urged him to reconsider the decision to ban Deuba.
“We earnestly hope the NC will not split if the relation between the two leaders — Koirala and Deuba — improve and they can patch up their problems for the best interest of democracy and party unity,” he said.
“It is entirely at the hands of Koirala whether to save the NC party or break it into two,” said Wagle, who along with the rest of the council of ministers has agreed to support Deuba. —AFP
