Nepalese rebels kills six police

Rebels fighting to abolish Nepal’s constitutional monarchy killed six policemen in an overnight attack, officials said today.

Guerillas attacked the police station at Koilabash village in Dang district, 250 miles west of the capital Kathmandu.

Reinforcements were sent in and government security forces took control of the area, a police official said.

The rebels, who claim to be inspired by Chinese revolutionary leader Mao Zedong, launched a violent campaign in 1996 to turn Nepal into a communist state.

The insurgency has killed more than 7,000 people, most of them after Nepal’s king imposed a state of emergency in November 2001 and ordered the army to join the police in fighting the guerillas.