Soldiers rescue 600 abducted students

SOLDIERS yesterday said they had rescued about 600 students who were abducted from their classrooms in western Nepal in a series of strikes by communist rebels.

The students were rescued during an operation in the mountainous Niskot village, said a statement issued by the Royal Nepalese Army headquarters in the capital, Katmandu.

Details were sketchy about the mission at the village, which is about 190 miles west of the capital Katmandu, but army officials in the area reached by telephone, said that soldiers had reached the village by road.