At least 12 Maoist rebels have been killed in army operations across Nepal, just hours after leaders of South Asian countries wrapped up a weekend summit here.
"Four rebels were killed in the Myagdi district, to the northwest," state-run radio said. "While eight Maoist terrorists were killed in action on Sunday at Sokat... to the far west".
An army bomb disposal unit today defused three bombs in Bhaktapur, 16 km (10 miles), east of Kathmandu. The army also recovered a large cache of bombs in Kaski, 170 km west of Kathmandu, yesterday.
Some 28 rebels were arrested in the past two days from different parts of the kingdom.
The deaths and discovery of the bombs came as leaders of seven South Asian countries gathered in Kathmandu for a summit last weekend.
The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) summit went off without any security incidents.
Nepal has been fighting a Maoist rebellion since 1996 and the violence has left more than 2,300 people dead.
The country has been under a state of emergency since November when the Maoists broke a ceasefire and attacked police and army posts.
AFP