Nepalese Troops Kill 27 Rebels in Fresh Clashes

Nepal said on Monday its troops had killed at least 27 rebels in fresh battles in the Himalayan kingdom in the past 36 hours, taking the total death toll since the rebels broke a truce in November to about 320.

The killings were part of an crackdown by the army which was deployed against the rebels for the first time after a string of deadly guerrilla attacks on security posts last month. Troops gunned down five rebles fighting against the constitutional monarchy in a clash in Baitadi district on Monday, a Defence Ministry statement said.

In another incident, at least 11 rebels were gunned down by soldiers late on Sunday after the insurgents attacked a telecom installation in Sallyan district, 450 km west of the national capital, Kathmandu.

King Gyanendra declared a nationwide state of emergency on November 26 and ordered its army to flush out the rebels from their mountain hideouts after the four-month-old fragile peace talks collapsed.

Fifty rebels were killed in an overnight battle at an army post in the west of the country late on Saturday. More than 2,100 people have been killed since the rebellion first erupted in the world's only Hindu kingdom of 23 million people in early 1996.

( December 11, 2001)