Rebels kill 48 police during raid on village

HUNDREDS of rebels attacked a police station in a remote mountainous village in Nepal yesterday, killing at least 48 policemen and wounding 19, a Government minister said.

There were 70 policemen stationed at the post in the village of Bhiman when the rebels attacked after midnight, starting a battle that lasted for hours, Home Minister Devendra Raj Kadel said after a visit to the site.

The remaining three policemen were missing and may be hiding in the nearby jungle, Mr Kadel said. At least two rebels were killed, he said.

Communications to the post, about 100 miles southeast of the capital, Katmandu, were knocked out soon after the three-hour assault began, he said.

Although the post was only about 12 miles from the district headquarters, Government reinforcements only reached the village by morning because rebels blocked the roads, a police official said on condition of anonymity.

The bodies of two rebels were found, but Mr Kadel said the rebel death toll could be much higher.

“We have eye witnesses saying that the rebels were seen fleeing the scene with dozens of bodies,” he said.

The insurgents, who say they are inspired by Chinese revolutionary Mao Zedong, have been fighting to overthrow Nepal’s constitutional monarchy since 1996.

The Government says nearly 5,000 people, including 3,290 rebels, have been killed in the six years of fighting, mostly in the countryside.

The latest attack comes ahead of a general strike called by the rebels for September 16.

Fighting intensified following the failure of peace talks between the Government and the rebels in October. The following month, the constitutional monarch, King Gyanendra, imposed emergency rule.

The state of emergency gave security forces sweeping powers to detain people without trial and curbed civil liberties.

It also allowed the army to help police for the first time in fighting the rebels.

It was only lifted last month after opposition politicians expressed concerns it could hinder parliamentary elections in November.