Posted on 10/28/2003 6:49:42 PM PST by Tailgunner Joe
Nine people have been killed in an attack by Maoist rebels in western Nepal, according to a security official.
The official said more than 50 rebels attacked a police post at Susuwa, 200 kilometres (124 miles) west of the capital, Kathmandu.
Six policemen, one soldier, and two civilians were killed in the ensuing gun battle, he added.
It is not clear whether there were any casualties on the rebel side.
Correspondents say this is the third such incident in three days in western Nepal.
The Maoists want to replace the constitutional monarchy in Nepal with a republic, and have stepped up attacks since ending a ceasefire in August.
Eight thousand people are reported to have died in the eight-year-old insurgency.
Press 'being targeted'
Meanwhile, the international journalists' organisation Reporters Without Borders has urged the Nepalese Government to act to end violence against journalists in the country.
"We are very worried about the increasing attacks on media workers by both government and rebel forces which threaten the free flow of news," said the body's Secretary General, Robert Menard, in a letter to Prime Minister Surya Bahadur Thapa.
"Journalists are protected in wartime by the 1949 Fourth Geneva Convention, which considers them civilians, and the arbitrary arrest, killing and kidnapping of them are serious violations of international humanitarian law."
Reporters Without Borders says nine journalists are currently being detained or are listed as missing in Nepal.
Rebels Attack Nepalese Police Station
Tue Oct 28, 1:30 PM ET
By BINAJ GURUBACHARYA, Associated Press Writer
KATMANDU, Nepal - Rebels attacked a police station and detonated bombs in two neighboring towns on Tuesday in central Nepal, killing at least 11 people — six of them policemen, officials said.
The rebels blocked the main highway leading to the police post at Lekhnath, a town about 125 miles west of Katmandu, before the attack, police told The Associated Press by telephone.
Six police died in the assault and two civilians walking past the station were killed in the crossfire, the officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Minutes before they launched the assault, the rebels also detonated two bombs in the town, killing at least three people — in what officials believe was an attempt to divert the attention of police and army.
Fighting between rebels and government troops has escalated since the insurgents pulled out of peace talks in August, ending a seven-month cease-fire.
The rebels, who say they are inspired by Chinese revolutionary leader Mao Zedong, have been fighting since 1996 to abolish Nepal's constitutional monarchy and set up a communist state. The government has labeled them terrorists.
More than 7,500 people have been killed since the insurgency began.
-archy-/-
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