Nepal's Maoist rebels killed at least seven security force personnel in new clashes, the army said yesterday on the eve of local polls called by King Gyanendra as part of a pledge to restore democracy.
One guerrilla also died in the violence, the army said, amid tight security as a nationwide general strike called by the Maoists entered its third day.
The municipal elections are the first to be held in seven years in the impoverished Himalayan nation which has been wracked by political turmoil.
The Maoists, fighting for the past decade to overthrow the monarchy, have stepped up violence in a bid to derail the polls that the rebels and opposition parties say are a sham aimed at perpetuating Gyanendra's control of the tiny nation of 26 million people.
"Seven security personnel were killed in two separate overnight attacks in two different districts," an army headquarters official said.
Three soldiers and two policemen died when rebels stormed the district headquarters town of Gaighat, 400km east of Kathmandu late on Monday. The body of a guerrilla was also found.
A soldier and a policeman were killed during a rebel attack in Panauti 30km southeast of Kathmandu, he added.
Gyanendra seized power just over a year ago in what he said was a bid to quell the insurgency. But the takeover has been condemned by the Maoists and mainstream parties who have formed a loose pro-democracy alliance.
The municipal polls are part of Gyanendra's "roadmap" to restoring democracy by April next year.
The latest killings came after two peosple died on Monday in revolt-related violence.
Heavily armed police and army personnel, meanwhile, patrolled the streets as security remained tight in the capital in the face of the weeklong general strike declared by the rebels on Sunday.
The strike was part of their campaign to thwart the polls that has largely paralyzed the nation.
More vehicles were on the roads in defiance of the strike call but businesses, schools and large shops stayed shut. But small stores were open.
"The situation gets worse every day and I'm living in constant fear," said Suresh Mainali, a commerce graduate student.
"Before I used to go home around 10 or 11 pm, but now I reach home at seven as the situation is critical due to the strike," he said. "The government hasn't been able [to] assure people of security despite their repeated statements."
In other incidents late on Monday, mayoral candidate Ram Krishna Adhikari said two people hurled a bomb into his house on Kathmandu's outskirts but his wife threw it outside where it exploded, causing little damage.
"I am not scared," Adhikari said, vowing to stay in the contest for the mayor's job.
But concerns about safety have cast a pall over the polls.
Contests will be taking place in just 36 of Nepal's 58 municipalities. Many of the candidates have been housed in army barracks for security. Others have withdrawn their candidacies.
In the other 22 municipalities there were not enough candidates to hold an election so people were appointed.
"People have been terrified after recent incidents so election turnout will be very thin," said Subodh Pyakurel, chairman of a leading human rights group, the Informal Sector Service Center.
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