NEPAL: Maoist rebels killed at least 58 people, most of them policemen, when they overran a town in western Nepal in the second major attack in as many days, a government official said yesterday.
Defence Ministry spokesman Mr Bhupendra Prasad Poudel said rebels "in their thousands" raided Sandhikharka, a remote valley town 300 km west of the capital Kathmandu, on Sunday night.
"Fifty eight people - 40 policemen, 17 soldiers and one civilian - have been killed in the attack," Mr Poudel said.
State-run radio said the rebels used civilians as human shields.
"The rebels set on fire buildings that housed government offices, except for a hospital. They also looted a bank," Home Ministry spokesman Mr Gopendra Bahadur Pandey said.
Helicopter pilots flying in reinforcements saw smoke billowing from buildings in the town.
The latest attack by Maoist rebels, who are fighting to overthrow the Himalayan nation's constitutional monarchy, began on Sunday at midnight, a day after a guerrilla attack on a police post in eastern Nepal left 49 policemen dead. At least 29 people were wounded in Sunday night's attack, 10 critically, officials said. Three government officials were also missing and believed to have been abducted by the rebels.
Officials quoted residents of Sandhikharka as saying they saw rebels carrying away dead and wounded comrades on their backs.
There was no independent confirmation of the death toll or any comment from the rebels who began their uprising in 1996. The rebels have stepped up their offensive in recent weeks after a four-month lull.
In May, troops launched big raids on rebel hideouts in west Nepal, the Maoists' stronghold, killing hundreds. But the rebels have regrouped and have been staging new attacks since emergency rule imposed late last year expired in August, officials say.
Troops were dropped from helicopters and were scouring the area looking for the insurgents, the Home Ministry spokesman said.
A cabinet minister said the government may have to reimpose emergency rule. "If the violence continues like this, the emergency will have to be reimposed," Works Minister Mr Chiranjivi Wagle said, adding the situation would be discussed at a cabinet meeting today. Key political parties oppose reimposition of emergency rule in the run-up to national elections that begin on November 13th.