Nepalese security forces fought back a communist rebel attack yesterday as officials placed the capital under curfew for the fifth straight day in an effort to stop anti-monarchy protests.
Five Maoist rebels and a government soldier died in fighting yesterday after the guerrillas attacked security bases and government buildings in the north-central town of Chautara, said a statement from Defense Ministry Spokesman Indiresh Dahal.
He said the army flew four civilians, injured in the attack in the remote mountain town, to a hospital in Kathmandu.
The attackers knocked down an antenna tower, severing the town's communications, and raided an area army base, police post, district administration office and jail, Dahal said.
He said the rebels bombed the local hospital, post office and education office, and that soldiers were combing the area for the attackers.
The Maoists have seized control of much of Nepal's countryside in a 10-year communist anti-monarchist insurgency that has killed about 13,000 people.
Protests have rocked Kathmandu for the past three weeks, and police have clashed with demonstrators demanding King Gyanendra relinquish the absolute power he seized 14 months ago. The communist rebels and Nepal's main political parties are both backing the movement.
In other developments, the US State Department yesterday ordered all non-emergency embassy staff and family members to leave Nepal, according to an embassy spokesman, Robert Hugins. He said about half of the mission's staff would leave.
Police fired tear gas and rubber bullets at a group of protesters marching along the city's Ring Road on Kathmandu's northern edge. At least seven people were injured, independent Kantipur radio reported.
The road circles the capital and is outside the zone of the city's 11am-6pm curfew. It was not clear why police decided to stop the demonstration.
Opposition parties said they expected hundreds of thousands at protests today, set to start from several points along the Ring Road.
Yesterday, activists prepared for the mass gathering.
"We are going door-to-door informing people of the program so they will be ready," said Nepali Congress Party activist Pradeep Dhakal.
In Geneva, a UN rights official urged Nepal to end its "shoot-on-sight" policy for curfew breakers.
"The government is, in effect, instructing its forces to shoot innocent people," said Philip Alston, the UN's special investigator on illegal and arbitrary executions.
Security forces have killed at least 14 protesters since the strike began. Despite the policy, however, there are no known cases of curfew-breakers being shot when they were not at protests.
The protests have intensified since Friday, when Gyanendra offered to let the seven-party opposition alliance nominate a prime minister and form a government. The opposition has rejected the offer.
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