Five policemen and nine Maoist rebels were killed as Nepal's government stepped up its campaign against the guerrillas trying to overthrow the Hindu monarchy, officials said today.
The Defence Ministry said Maoist rebels fought a gunbattle with police in Kanchenpur in west Nepal on Friday, killing three officers and wounding another seven. At least two rebels were also killed in the encounter.
Two other policemen were killed in a bomb explosion in Dang district in west Nepal.
Four guerrillas died in a gunbattle with soldiers in Bardiya district and another three were killed elsewhere in the kingdom, a ministry spokesman said.
Maoist insurgents want to set up a one-party communist republic in Nepal, one of the world's 10 poorest countries. The revolt has cost over 2,800 lives and severely hit Nepal's economy.