AFP. 21 January 2002. Five rebels killed in clashes with Nepalese security forces.
KATHMANDU -- At least five Maoist rebels were killed during clashes with security forces in Nepal over the weekend, a defence ministry press statement said Monday evening. "Five Maoist terrorists were killed in different parts of the country on Sunday when they clashed with security personnel," the press release said. "Three rebels were killed at Amlachaur in Baglung district (to the west) on Sunday when they attacked security forces." Two other rebels were also injured in the retaliatory fire from the security forces, the statement added. Another Maoist was killed in the eastern district of Taplejung on Sunday "when the two sides exchanged fire" while a fifth was shot dead in the western Bajhang district. The victim was identified as the Maoists' area commander Birkha Bahadur Singh. Twenty-one rebels were arrested during the operations while a large quanity of pipe bombs and other explosives were also recovered from the scenes of the clashes, it said. The news came as Maoists attacked four government vehicles in Kathmandu Monday, where several rebel sympathizers were arrested, officials said. The Maoists doused three vehicles belonging to the semi-governmental Nepal Electricity Authority with gasoline and set them on fire, and set off a petroleum bomb in a car of the parliamentary secretariat, police said. No one was injured in the Maoist attacks, which are rare in the capital. [Media in Nepal at present is heavily censored and reports of army losses are rarely reported.] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Barry Stoller http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ProletarianNews
