Nepali rebels kill at least 38 policemen

At least 38 policemen were killed in attacks carried out by Maoist insurgents, police said yesterday.

As the country was marking the 55th birthday of King Gyanendra, three checkposts in different areas were attacked and weapons were looted by the rebels, police said.

A police inspector was among the dead and five Maoist rebels were also killed in the clashes, according to police.

In Lamjung, 190km west of the capital 21 policemen and three rebels were killed while in Nuwakot, 90km north of Kathmandu, 10 policemen and two Maoists died.

Similarly, seven policemen were killed at Gulmi, 270km southwest of the city, police said.

"A fairly large number of armed Maoists attacked a police checkpost manned by 24 policemen at Bichaur village at around 2am," chief officer of Lamjung district, Harihar Sharma.

"The Maoists and the policemen clashed for over two hours but they were overpowered by the large number of Maoists."

Ten officers were killed and others were injured when a checkpost in the Nuwakot district was attacked, according to Mod Raj Dotel, chief district officer of Nuwakot.

In Gulmi, Maoists attacked the police checkpost at Bametaksar and killed seven officers.

The chief district officers are officials attached to the interior ministry.

More than 1,600 people have been killed since the Maoists launched an insurgency to topple Nepal's constitutional monarchy in 1996. In the past two weeks they have stepped up their attacks in Kathmandu, planting a series of bombs.

The rebels have called for a strike on July 12 to protest against the introduction of tough new security laws, which give the authorities sweeping powers to arrest and detain anyone seen as a threat to national security.

They have also been highly critical of the new King Gyanedra, who took the throne last month after king Birendra and eight other royals were gunned down by crown prince Dipendra.

Gyanendra is seen as being more hardline that his brother Birendra, who decided not to send the army in to fight the Maoists, who control large parts of rural Nepal.