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According
to RNA sources there are between 2,000 and 4,000 well-trained Maoist fighters,
known as the movement's "hard core". Another 12,000-14,000 so called "militia"
fight alongside them. These include recent recruits - some of them young
women - largely in their teens. They carry antiquated .303 rifles looted
from police stations. Some of the elite fighters use submachine guns and
more modern rifles, stolen from the army. |
About
50,000 Royal Nepal Army soldiers - some equipped with American-made M16s,
others with Belgian FNFAL .762 mm rifles - oppose the Maoist forces. At
least half of that force is not directly fighting rebels, but carrying
out other duties. Nepal's army has several helicopters and a single fixed-wing
aircraft. The United States and Great Britain are providing training and
other military aid. |
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Surkhet:
Maoists launched "Three-day training" for teachers
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September
22, 2002
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Reports
from Surkhet district said that a lot of teachers fled the village schools
across the western region and arrived at the district headquarters seeking
safety from the Maoists. |
All
most all teachers fled the schools in Surkhet as Maoists started a forceful
recruitment of teachers in their camps. The incident lead to a closure
of schools across several villages as no teacher could be found. About
two-dozen teachers fled from a Secondary School in Salkot, Surkhet district
and applied for refuge at the district's headquarters. Most schools
remained closed since last week as the Maoists launched their "three-day
training". They visited schools demanding the teachers to take part in
the training. According to a teacher, the Maoists have asked all of them
to gather at Salkot to attain the training at an unknown Maoists hideouts.
The locals in the districts said about 17 teachers who did not flee to
the district headquarters were taken by the Maoists. |
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Maoists
announced various actions to disrupt elections starting from Nov 13, 2002
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September
22, 2002
|
The
Maoists have announced a series of programs, including nationwide shutdown
during the start of the general elections scheduled to start from November
13, to press the government for peace talks. |
The
Maoist protest program includes massive publicity from Sept 22 - Oct 6;
regional protest programs from Oct 7 - 27, including a shutdown of the
Terai belt on Oct 27; "mobilization of the people" from Oct 28 - Nov 10;
and nationwide shutdown on Nov 11, 12 and 13. The Maoists have also threatened
to continue their "various actions". The Maoists have suddenly escalated
their violent activities since the period of state of emergency came to
an end in the country.
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350
post offices destroyed in 10 months
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September
14, 2002
|
| Maoists
rebels destroyed over 350 post offices nationwide in the last few months,
rendering the postal services network adversely affected. Most of the postal
services remain hard-hit in several Maoist affected districts, where electronic
communication is non-existent and most roads remain closed. It is reported
that delivery of letters and parcels are delayed by several days and sometimes
even weeks. |
A
dozen post offices were destroyed in Sindhupalchowk and Nuwakot earlier while the most recent destructions occurred at Sindhuli and Argakhanchi.
With the destruction of the post offices, several districts hit by the
Maoists are now running mobile postal services. People in Achham, Kalikot,
Dolakha, Rukum and Rolpa districts, with no electronic communication
facilities nor even a telephone connection, face a crisis. About 100 VDCs
are without any type of postal services. The government was to establish
postal services in all the VDCs in the ninth plan. The Postal system in
Nepal is one of the larger employment industries with more than 20, 000
employees. Despite there being 3,986 post offices across the country, there
is a deafening silence about what the government intends to do to prevent
the postal service network from being destroyed.
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Argakhanchi:
Maoist rebels attacked a garrison at Sandhikharka
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|
September
09, 2002
|
Maoist
rebels have launched a new attack on Sandhikharka, the district headquarters
of southwestern Argakhanchi district. The area is about 300 km (186
miles) west of Kathmandu, Nepal's capital. According to official sources,
at least 58 security personnel (Nepal Police, Royal Nepal Army, Armed Police
Force personnel) lost their lives in the attack launched by Maoist rebels. |
The
attack on the garrison of about 200 security personnel began at 2200
and lasted for four hours. Communications with the town were cut at midnight.
The RNA sent reinforcments to site and have evacuated wounded security
personnel. Heavy rain and poor transport facilities are hampering
search and rescue missions by security personnel. The rebel's caualities
are not known yet. Experts say that the recent attacks is aimed at forcing
the government to impose another emergency, that will most certainly disrupt
the November polls.
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Sindhuli:
Maoists killed at least 49 policemen in an attack
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September
07, 2002
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Maoist
insurgents launched a fierce attack on the Bhiman area police in Sindhuli
district, 150 kilometers east of Kathmandu. About 73 policemen were
stationed at the area police post, about 18 kilometres south of the district
headquarters Sindhulimadi. The rebels attacked the post with automatic
rifles. Hundreds of rebels participated in the attack, far outnumbering
the police personnel stationed at the post . |
The
rebels launched their assault in the middle of the night, a common tactic.
At least 49 policemen and an unknown number of rebels have died in a massive
attack by Maoists. The losses of the rebel forces are not known. Sources
expect that more than fifty rebels could be gunned down in this incident.
The Maoist rebels are known to carry their dead comrades with them making
it impossible to know the exact losses suffered by the insurgents. The
police post is located at a place surrounded by dense forest . The Maoists
had blocked off roads leading to the police post. Another 19 policemen
were injured, some of them seriously while two others were missing. Army
and Police forces were sent for reinforcement to the site of the fightings.
Since the rebellion began in early 1996, more than 4,800 people have died.
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