From: Barry Stoller <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: [L-I] CPN(M) offensive - update AFP. 26 November 2001. Nepal govt seeks emergency powers as Maoist clashes kill over 280. KATHMANDU -- Nepal's government is to ask the king to declare a state of emergency after more than 280 people were killed in clashes between Maoist rebels and security forces in the past few days, officials said Monday. Some 200 Maoist rebels, around 30 police officers and soldiers and two civilians were killed Sunday when the guerrillas attacked administrative, police and army facilities in Solukhumbu district, 280 kilometres (170 miles) northeast of Kathmandu, officials said. "The local police post, the district administration office, the official residence of the chief district officer, the customs and revenue offices and the airport tower were completely destroyed in a bomb attack, as well as three private houses," a government statement said. The source said a group of 600 armed Maoists attacked and blew up the Phaplu airport tower in Salleri -- the district headquarters of Solukhumbu about 280 kilometres (150 miles) northeast of the capital -- and later attacked a local army barracks. Police said a fierce exchange of fire continued until early Monday morning, while a highly placed official said the army had been sent to Salleri to reinforce security presonnel. "Since all telephone communications have been disrupted, we are not in a postition to say exactly the number of casualties on either the security or the Maoist side," home ministry spokesman Gopendra Bahadur Pandey said. Minister for Tourism abnd Culture Bal Bahadur K.C. who represents the Solukhumbu district, has gone to the area in an army helicopter to take stock of the situation. Unofficial but reliable sources said government establishments including the Chief District Officer's office had been blown up by the Maoists and several people from both sides had been killed in the exchange of fire. The sources said the rebels had first attacked the airport security post, the district officer's office building and had later turned to the army camp. Maoists also looted a bank, ransacked a court building and released prisoners from a local jail, the statement said. Nearly 50 people, mostly members of the security forces, had already died since Friday when the rebels broke a four-month ceasefire and launched a string of attacks on police and army posts, banks and civil offices. The attacks continued Monday with three soldiers killed when their truck drove over a pipe bomb set by Maoists in Pyuthan district, 390 kilometres (242 miles) west of Kathmandu. A police post in the same area was also set on fire. In response to the escalating violence, Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba held a two-hour emergency meeting Monday which agreed to ask the king to immediately pass an ordinance allowing the government to declare a state of emergency. Once the king has passed the ordinance, the government will officially ask him to declare a state of emergency in order to combat the Maoist threat, a cabinet source said. A state of emergency would allow the government to use the full force of the army against the rebels, something it has previously refrained from doing in fear it could lead to civil war. Meanwhile, Nepal has asked New Delhi to put its border security forces on high alert to prevent any rebels seeking shelter in India. A Nepali official asked the chief minister of West Bengal state, which borders eastern Nepal, to tighten security along the frontier. "Nepal is very concerned over the recent Maoist attacks in its eastern part. I have urged the chief minister to beef up the security at the West Bengal border with Nepal," Kathmandu's consul general in Calcutta, Yubaraj Bhusal, told AFP. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Barry Stoller http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ProletarianNews _________________________________________________ KOMINFORM P.O. Box 66 00841 Helsinki Phone +358-40-7177941 Fax +358-9-7591081 http://www.kominf.pp.fi General class struggle news: [EMAIL PROTECTED] subscribe mails to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Geopolitical news: [EMAIL PROTECTED] subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] __________________________________________________
