Suspected insurgents shot dead a policeman in Nepal's capital today as the military said it could escort food shipments into the city to ease a rebel-inspired blockade.
The new violence came as Maoist guerrillas failed to respond to a government offer to partially meet their demands for lifting the blockade, in its fourth day. The unprecedented siege has triggered fuel rationing and pushed up food prices in the city of 1.5 million people.
The blockade is the latest tactic by the rebels, who have been waging an 8-year-old rebellion to topple Nepal's constitutional monarchy and establish a communist republic. More than 10,000 people have died in the revolt.
The rebels have not set physical barriers to block trucks carrying supplies to the capital but are enforcing it mainly through fear of their trademark hit-and-run attacks.
The capital itself is well guarded but the rebels have repeatedly shown their ability to bomb buildings and carry out targetted killings in Kathmandu since the revolt began.
A Home Ministry official said two men on a motorcycle shot a police sub-inspector as he was walking in a residential area on the outskirts of the city.
Two people were wounded yesterday when rebels set off two bombs in the city.
The government and the rebels say they are committed to peace talks but neither side has taken the lead to resume a peace process that broke down last year.
The rebels want talks to be brokered by the United Nations but the government says it does not want outside involvement.
The rebels called the blockade to press demands for investigations into the alleged killing of comrades, release of some jailed members and information about missing guerrillas.
The government promised yesterday to provide information about leaders of student and trade unions linked to the Maoists, who the rebels say have disappeared in the Himalayan kingdom's civil war.