Nepal deploys more troops to fight Maoist rebels

21/05/2001| IslamWeb

KATHMANDU (Reuters) - Nepal reinforced troops fighting an uprising by Maoist insurgents on Sunday as the rebels attacked government installations and a foreign aid agency, officials said.
The rebels, fighting to replace the impoverished kingdom's constitutional monarchy with a communist republic, attacked the office of Adventist Development and Relief Agency in Rasuwa, north of Kathmandu, took away office equipment and snapped communication lines.
ADRA, which is headquartered in the United States, helps provide healthcare in Nepal, which lacks basic medical facilities. No-one was injured in the attack.
The rebels also attacked a military post near Sundarijal on the outskirts of Kathmandu but were beaten back. "There was no casualty on the army side in any of these incidents," the government said.
Nepal ordered a state of emergency and called in troops last Monday after the Maoists broke a four-month truce and launched deadly attacks on security forces in the west and east of the country.
Defence Secretary Padam Kumar Acharya said more soldiers had been sent in an intensified operation to hunt down the insurgents entrenched in thickly forested mountains.
"Soldiers have already begun cordon and search campaigns and will soon start search and destroy operations," Acharya told Reuters.