Nepalnews. com : Maoists opened fire at Security Forces at Kavre VDC in Dang bordering Pyuthan district.

Within hours of expiry of the `temporary truce' observed by both the sides, security forces and Maoist rebels clashed at Kamirechour in the mid-western district of Dang Friday afternoon, reports said.

The Maoists had announced that they would stop their armed operations for nine days during Dashain until mid-night Thursday. The government later reciprocated the move.

A security source in Dang told Nepalnews Saturday morning that a security patrol retaliated when a group of Maoists opened fire at them at Kavre VDC in Dang bordering Pyuthan district. The search operation is underway in the area, he said.

There has been no report of casualty on either side as yet.

The area is known as a stronghold of the Maoists. Reinforcement has been sent from the Royal Nepalese Army barrack at Ghorahi in Dang to the area, sources said.

Nepal Samacharpatra daily quoted sources at the RNA barrack in Tulsipur as saying that the clashes had started after the rebels attacked on security forces using a long-range weapon. There had been no reports of casualty during the four-hour clash, the report said.

The Maoists had attacked the army barrack at Ghorahi, Dang in November 2001 within days of walking off the first-ever peace talks with the government. A strategically important valley, Dang-Deukhuri is considered a gateway to remote hilly districts of Rapti Zone from where the Maoist insurgency was launched in early 1996.
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