Four soldiers, dozens of Maoists killed

November 26, 2001
2 MIN READ
A
A+
A-

At least 70 Maoists and four soldiers have so far died in a second Maoist attack overnight on an army barrack in Sellari, district headquarters of Solu, security sources said. The rebels also damaged the Phaplu airport tower.

The chief district officer (CDO) of Solukhumbu Buddhi Sagar Tripathi has also been killed. At least 50 bodies of Maoist attackers are in Salleri, and the rebels have taken away other bodies of their dead. This is the first time that the chief representative of the central government in a district has been killed.

Government sources said four policemen and three soldiers were among the dead when police and army jointly repulsed the midnight attack by hundreds of insurgents. Flights to Phaplu have been suspended, but flights to Lukla, two days walk to the north are normal.

Maoists for the first time killed 14 soldiers and injured more than 30 in the first attack on an army barrack in Ghorai in Dang 360 kms west of the capital after breaking the four-month truce with the government to negotiate an end to a communnist insurgency that has claimed more than 1,900 lives.

The ruling Nepali Congress Party central committee Monday morning began an emergency meeting for the second day to review the escalation in the internal war after the rebels broke a truce killing more than 180 pesons on both sides of the conflict in three days.

The party has already authorized the government to mobilize security forces against the rebels to quell the insurgency.