At least 23 communist rebels and 10 police died yesterday in the latest violence in Nepal, officials said.
Government soldiers retrieved the bodies of at least 20 Maoist rebels after an operation near Dharechown village, about 80km northwest of the capital, Katmandu, according to the Royal Nepalese Army headquarters.
Hours earlier, rebel gun and bomb attacks on police posts in two southeastern towns left at least 10 policemen and three rebels dead, and 22 other people wounded.
In the first incident, rebels came in buses and trucks and killed nine policemen at a police station in Birtamod, about 500km southeast of Kathmandu, said Bhola Siwakoti, the chief government official in the area.
The rebels also bombed several government offices in the town, on the busy east-west highway that runs the length of the Himalayan nation. There were no casualties in the office buildings, which were not yet open for the day.
Most of the nine policemen were killed by gunfire in the initial attack, Siwakoti said. An ensuing battle killed at least three rebels, local police chief Keshari Ghimire said.
Soldiers later took control of the town and searched surrounding areas for the attackers.
In a separate, almost simultaneous attack, one policeman was killed when rebels attacked another police post in Dharan, just north of Birtamod.
The rebels arrived on motorcycles and began firing at the policemen, government official Mohan Pokhrel said.
The violence has continued despite a decision by the rebels on Sunday to end a six-day highway blockade that had crippled life across the country.
The rebels also canceled plans for an indefinite general strike starting April 3, but said they would support a general strike from April 6 to April 9 called by an alliance of seven major political parties which has been trying to restore democracy in Nepal.
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