KATHMANDU, Dec 1: Nepalese security forces were advancing towards Maoist strongholds after at least two more rebels were killed in a government offensive, officials said on Saturday.

A highly placed home ministry source said army personnel had advanced by land and air in far northwestern districts where the ultra-leftists have hideouts and training camps.

The source said four “top Maoist leaders,” whose names were not revealed, were surrounded by security personnel near the rebels’ stronghold of Rolpa, some 390 kilometres northwest of the capital Kathmandu.

With heavy snowfall in the Himalayas, officials said it was unlikely the Maoist leaders could slip into nearby Tibet. Both of Nepal’s neighbours, China and India, have backed the government’s crackdown, giving the rebels few safe places to flee.

The Maoists, who launched their “people’s war” in 1996 to overthrow Nepal’s constitutional monarchy, have control over Rolpa and a number of other districts where they run a virtual parallel government, raising revenue and running schools and a Maoist judiciary.

Meanwhile, two Maoists were killed Friday night in separate clashes in the districts of Rolpa and southeastern Nawalparasi, the official said.

On Saturday, the government used air power to target the Maoist stronghold of Jajarkot in western Nepal, the defence ministry said, adding the rebels may have sustained casualties.

The ministry said security forces also foiled an attempt to blow up two water reservoirs serving 1.2 million people in the capital.

Police fired on an unspecified number of Maoists as they tried to plant bombs at the reservoirs, which are located eight and 16 kilometres from the capital. No one was reported injured.

The Maoists on Thursday bombed a Coca-Cola plant in Kathmandu in their first attack in the capital since breaking a four-month ceasefire last week.

More than 430 people have died in eight days of fighting, out of 2,100 who have died since the insurgency began in 1996.

King Gyanendra on Monday for the first time authorised the army to fight the Maoists after the government declared a state of emergency and branded the rebels “terrorists.”

The government Saturday also warned doctors, hospitals and nursing homes not to treat wounded Maoists.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) on Friday expressed concern about the fighting and said there was little information on the number of casualties.

“We are afraid because of the situation we still haven’t had access to those who have been arrested, but we are getting some information that leads us to believe the situation in the country is serious,” the head of the ICRC’s team said.—AFP