Maoist rebels in western Nepal killed at least 29 policemen and a local resident just days after slaying 32 officers in a similar attack, the Himalayan kingdom's home secretary said yesterday.
The attack, which brings the number of police killed in the last week to at least 71, occurred on Friday around 11pm in the district of Dailekh, 380km west of the capital, Kathmandu.
It came just hours after the bombing of a government minister's house and coincided with a Maoist-led general strike which brought the country to a standstill.
"Over 300 Maoists with firearms and bombs attacked a police checkpost manned by 64 police guards at Namule village in Dailekh district, killing 29 police and wounding 12 others. One local resident was also killed," Home Secretary Sri Kanta Regmi said. He added that 12 others were still missing.
"So far we have reports of 30 deaths," he said.
Regmi said 11 policemen who had been buried under the debris of the bombed building in which they were sheltering had been found alive.
A rescue helicopter was flown to the site of the attack to evacuate the wounded to Kathmandu for treatment.
The massacre follows an attack on Monday by 300 rebels on an outpost in Rukumkot, western Nepal. At least 32 policemen were killed and the Maoists are still holding at least 23 others hostage.
Another 10 policemen have been killed in other attacks in the last week.
The Maoists launched their insurgency in 1996. Over the last five years more than 1,600 people, including at least 315 police officers, have been killed in rebel attacks.
At the beginning of their campaign the Maoists were active only in some remote villages but have now spread their rebellion to more than 30 districts.
The government on Friday unveiled plans to create a new 15,000-strong police task force to combat the rebels in the northern and western areas that have become their strongholds.
This armed force will be an attempt to put the poorly equipped and demoralized police on an equal footing with the rebels, Deputy Prime Minister Ram Chandra Paudel said.
The government is to spend 2 billion rupees (US$30 million) equipping the force with modern weapons and training them in anti-guerrilla warfare.
The government says the move does not mean it has closed the door to peace talks with rebels, who last month made a surprise request to join a national government under certain conditions.
RSS