Many killed in Nepal clashes
At least 33 people, including seven members of the security forces and a civilian, have been killed in a fresh outbreak of clashes with Maoist rebels in Nepal.
The latest violence took place in several different districts across the Himalayan kingdom between Saturday and Sunday.
“Two army men were killed and one policeman was severely injured in an ambush laid by the Maoists in Betini forest of Bhojpur district (in eastern Nepal) on Saturday,” an army source said in the capital Kathmandu.
Ambush
Security forces killed seven guerrillas in the western Bajhang district, six in southeastern Mahottari, two each in eastern Panchthar southwestern Nawalparasi districts.
One rebel was also killed in the eastern Sindhupalchok, another two in Sankhuwasabha and Ilam districts respectively and one each in the western Dang district and the southwestern Bardiya district on Saturday, the source said.
Three security personnel who were severely injured last week in an ambush laid by the rebels at Milanchok in the southern Parsa district died in hospital on Saturday, he said.
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Six security personnel were severely injured in a Maoist ambush and two rebels were killed at Pahalmanpur in the southwestern Kailali district on Sunday, the source added.
A rebel, a policeman and a civilian were killed at Binaghat in the southeastern Biratnagar district also on Sunday.
Meanwhile the Maoists abducted an 80-year-old woman from Machhepokhari in the Sankhuwasabha allegedly because she refused to give them 100,000 rupees ($7,400), the source said.
“The Maoists abducted Bhadra Maya Gurung, 80-year old wife of an ex-serviceman, from her home on Sunday,” the source said.
There has been a surge in violence in Nepal since 27 August, when the rebels ended a seven-month ceasefire. More than 1100 people have died since then, according to figures compiled by human rights activists in Kathmandu.
The seven-year rebellion has claimed more than 8200 lives, according to official figures, or 8900 according to Kathmandu-based rights group Informal Service Sector Centre.