ladyarkles
04-11-2005, 07:16 PM
Maoist rebels stormed a jail in central Nepal, killed two policemen and set free 28 inmates, including 20 guerrillas, late on Saturday, police said. The rebels, fighting to replace the Himalayan kingdom’s monarchy with a communist republic, also bombed half a dozen government offices during the raid in Charikot, 150km northeast of the capital Kathmandu, a police officer said.
“They broke open the gate of the jail after killing the policemen and escaped with 28 inmates,” he said yesterday.
It was not clear if the rebels also suffered casualties during the midnight raid.
The incident comes two days after government troops killed 113 guerrillas and lost three soldiers while repulsing a rebel attack on an army base in western Nepal in the deadliest clash in the country for five months.
The toll of rebels killed in that clash rose from 97 after soldiers recovered 16 more bodies, an army official said.
Violence has escalated since the Maoists called a 11-day general strike to protest against King Gyanendra.
The strike, due to end tomrorrow, has disrupted supplies and travel across the landlocked and impoverished kingdom, wedged between giant Asian neighbours India and China.
More than 300 people have died in a surge of violence since the king seized power.
Gyanendra, who also jailed politicians and suspended civil liberties under a state of emergency, has justified his decision saying it was required to crush the increasingly bloody revolt.
A European rights group, meanwhile, has said its team was barred from meeting two senior Maoist leaders from Nepal being held in Indian prisons.
The team travelled through India in March to participate in a conference organised by the World People’s Resistance Movement (Europe and South Asia), a London-based organisation.
The delegation wanted to meet Nepalese Maoist leader C Prakash Gajurel aka Gaurav, jailed in Chennai after he was arrested with a fake passport, and Mohan Baidhya alias Kiran, arrested in West Bengal where he had undergone a cataract operation.
The team also tried to visit Beur prison in Bihar where 19 more Nepalese Maoists are reportedly being held.
The delegation, which returned to Europe last week, issued a statement saying that though an earlier delegation was allowed to meet Gajurel in prison in March 2004, India subsequent visits by international visitors.
“They broke open the gate of the jail after killing the policemen and escaped with 28 inmates,” he said yesterday.
It was not clear if the rebels also suffered casualties during the midnight raid.
The incident comes two days after government troops killed 113 guerrillas and lost three soldiers while repulsing a rebel attack on an army base in western Nepal in the deadliest clash in the country for five months.
The toll of rebels killed in that clash rose from 97 after soldiers recovered 16 more bodies, an army official said.
Violence has escalated since the Maoists called a 11-day general strike to protest against King Gyanendra.
The strike, due to end tomrorrow, has disrupted supplies and travel across the landlocked and impoverished kingdom, wedged between giant Asian neighbours India and China.
More than 300 people have died in a surge of violence since the king seized power.
Gyanendra, who also jailed politicians and suspended civil liberties under a state of emergency, has justified his decision saying it was required to crush the increasingly bloody revolt.
A European rights group, meanwhile, has said its team was barred from meeting two senior Maoist leaders from Nepal being held in Indian prisons.
The team travelled through India in March to participate in a conference organised by the World People’s Resistance Movement (Europe and South Asia), a London-based organisation.
The delegation wanted to meet Nepalese Maoist leader C Prakash Gajurel aka Gaurav, jailed in Chennai after he was arrested with a fake passport, and Mohan Baidhya alias Kiran, arrested in West Bengal where he had undergone a cataract operation.
The team also tried to visit Beur prison in Bihar where 19 more Nepalese Maoists are reportedly being held.
The delegation, which returned to Europe last week, issued a statement saying that though an earlier delegation was allowed to meet Gajurel in prison in March 2004, India subsequent visits by international visitors.