14 die in Nepal violence

At least 14 people died in a fresh burst of violence in southern Nepal today, after communist rebels lifted a two-week highway blockade that had crippled the flow of essential supplies in protest at the king’s recent power grab.

The rebels ambushed an army truck carrying soldiers on a regular patrol near the town of Patlaiya, about 160 miles south of Katmandu, killing eight of them, police said.