13 killed in rebel attack on Nepal

Communist rebels bombed government buildings and raided security bases in a southern Nepal town, taking hostages and engaging police in gunbattles that left 13 people dead, officials said today.

Meanwhile, an army helicopter gunship crashed while responding to the attack, killing 10 soldiers on board.

Six policemen, five rebels and two civilians were among those killed in the overnight raid in Malangawa, about 75 miles south of Kathmandu, a police official said.

The rebels also took 28 hostages, police said.

The bodies of five policemen and four rebels had been recovered so far.

The rebels claimed responsibility for helicopter crash and the attack on the town. “Our liberation army has been able to shoot down the sophisticated night vision helicopter. This ... has taken our fighting to a new level,” a rebel statement said.

Due to its night-flying capabilities, the helicopter is believed to be one of the most effective against the insurgents among helicopters currently in service.

The rebel chief, who goes by the single name of Prachanda, issued a separate statement lauding the helicopter crash.

“The helicopter was blown apart while still in the air. It is the first time the PLA has been successful against so-called attacks by the enemies using modern and indigenously developed weapons,” he said without elaborating.

The defence ministry dismissed the claim.

“The technical team which reached the site immediately rejected the imaginary claim by the so-called leader of the terrorists that they shot down the helicopter,” it said.

“Preliminary investigation showed that the helicopter was flying at a high altitude when it developed technical problems, and fell to the ground,” the defence ministry said in a statement.

Police official Rajan Limbu said the rebels took the area’s chief administrative official hostage along with 27 police while freeing inmates from the town’s jail, including suspected rebel colleagues.

Fighting continued until this morning when reinforcement troops reached the area.

The attack came just hours before a nationwide general strike called by Nepal’s seven major political parties in their efforts to roll back King Gyanendra’s direct rule over the Himalayan nation.

The rebels have said they support the move, and pledged to suspend all violence in the capital Kathmandu during the four-day strike.

At the same time, the rebels have escalated attacks against government targets since withdrawing from a ceasefire earlier this year.

The rebels, who claim to be inspired by Chinese revolutionary Mao Zedong, began their violent campaign to replace the monarchy with a communist state in 1996.

The insurgency has left more than 13,000 dead.