LEAD: Nepal rebels attack town, kill 29

Asian Political News, March 9, 2004

KATHMANDU, March 3 Kyodo

(EDS: UPDATING)

Maoist rebels raided a mountainous town in eastern Nepal overnight Tuesday, killing 29 police officers and army soldiers in the biggest attack in recent months, the Nepalese army said Wednesday.

Eighteen police officers and 11 army soldiers were killed in the attack in Bhojpur, about 200 kilometers east of the capital, and over a dozen other security personnel were injured.

The rebels also suffered heavy losses when a night-vision helicopter pounded them in the fighting, according to the army. Dozens of rebels were killed and at least 10 bodies of the insurgents have been recovered so far, the army said.

Hundreds of rebels launched the attack in the center of the town by hurling bombs and opening fire at government office buildings around 9:30 p.m. Fighting lasted until the early hours of Wednesday.

The office of the local chief government official, a local bank building and a telecom tower were destroyed.

The rebels killed most of the security personnel guarding the telecom tower.

The injured security personnel were airlifted to Kathmandu for treatment, the government said, adding further details of the losses were not immediately known.

The attack in Bhojpur is the largest carried out by the rebels since the breakdown of a cease-fire and peace talks with the government last August.

The rebels of the Nepal Communist Party (Maoist) are waging an armed rebellion to topple the monarchy and set up a republican state in Nepal.

More than 10,000 Nepalese have been killed since the outbreak of the insurgency in February in 1996, according to government figures.