Nepal's armed forces launched an offensive against Maoist rebels yesterday, using helicopters and ground soldiers to stamp out a revolt aimed at toppling the king and installing a communist republic.
A defence ministry statement said the army had inflicted "heavy damage" on the Maoists but gave few other details of a new crackdown ordered yesterday by King Gyanendra after the worst violence since the guerrillas began their fight in 1996. The aim, said Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba in a televised speech, was "to bring the terrorists to justice".
The army, which includes the formidable Gurkha fighters, was using helicopters and land assaults to hunt down the guerrillas in remote parts of the mountain kingdom.
There were skirmishes with rebels in five different places, but no soldiers were hurt, a defence ministry spokesman said. Four policemen died when Maoists attacked a police post overnight in western Nepal, a home ministry spokesman said.
At least 100 people were killed in Maoist attacks over the weekend, prompting the king to declare a state of emergency and order the army to confront the rebels for the first time.
King Gyanendra, catapulted to the throne after a June palace massacre, deployed the army on the government's advice. He also curbed free speech and announced new powers of detention in a campaign which pits the army, loyal to the king, against republican rebels who portray themselves as defenders of the poor.
Nepal had previously avoided using the army for fear of upsetting the delicate balance between its constitutional monarchy established in 1990 and its parliamentary democracy. But some newspapers said the weekend violence left the king and government with little choice.