On the fifth day of a search and rescue mission, additional reinforcements were sent to Rolpa and adjoining hill districts Tuesday to strengthen a cordon around Maoists holding 71 captured policemen hostages in the remote mountains, an official announcement said.

As heavy monsoon rains battered the area 650 kms northwest of the capital making air deployment of troops impossible, soldiers were rushed there overland. The aim of the operation around Nuwa village in the district is to free the hostages and recover captured weapons.

No casualties were reported as the stand-off between the insurgents and the regular forces continued. Maoists captured the policemen during a raid at a outpost killing

two others Thursday.

Troops have been deployed in four additional districts of Dolakha, Dailekh, Surkhet and Dang to contain a communist insurgency that entered its sixth year February killing more than 1,700 persons, an announcement said Tuesday.

Soldiers were previously deployed in seven of the kingdom’s 75 administrative districts following dramatic rebel attacks and killings of policemen at outposts beginning September last year. Except Dolakha in east Nepal, the three additional districts where soldiers were deployed borders Rolpa.

Independent reports of ground realities are not available as local officials sent back a group of reporters Monday from entering the area. A human rights group trying has rushed to the insurgency affected area to negotiate a settlement and prevent a confrontation. This is the first time that soldiers have pursued rebels to what the

Maoists call their base areas where their writ runs large.

Rebels in the ruling Nepali Congress party intensified their demands this week calling for Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala’s resignation even as his government attempted to disarm the rebels and free the hostages. Government said there are no casualties in the military operation despite reports of several dozen casualties in the first day of operation Thursday.

Thirty soldiers were injured when a van overturned in the outskirts of the capital Tuesday as they were driving to a shooting range for a practice session, an announcement said.