Daily Times - Pakistan | Nepal vows to foil blockade

* Urges rebels to seize chance for peace

KHATMANDU: Security forces scoured western Nepal on Friday for 145 prisoners sprung from jail by Maoists, as the army vowed to foil a road blockade threatened by the rebels to protest King Gyanendra’s seizure of power 11 days ago.

The prisoners were freed when hundreds of Maoist rebels stormed the jail in the western Kailaliat region late Wednesday in their first big offensive since the king assumed absolute powers in the Himalayan outpost on February 1.

“An intense search is under way for the 145 escaped prisoners in the area,” a security official said.

Five soldiers and at least one rebel died in the attack reported late Thursday in the kingdom, which has been under emergency rule since the monarch sacked the government and declared emergency rule.

“Hundreds of Maoist rebels tried to attack various government offices,” including those of the police and district administration, “but were bravely repulsed by security forces,” the security official told AFP.

“Several hundred rebels first controlled the jail and set free 168 inmates including 60 Maoist rebels and ran away with some arms and ammunition,” he said. Twenty-three of the prisoners had been put back behind bars, he said.

The official said the Maoists suffered heavy casualties but only one body was found because the rebels had carried away their dead. The militants routinely take away the bodies to avoid their identification and their network being uncovered.

Military experts say Nepal’s armed forces are ill-equipped to tackle the increasingly deadly Maoist insurgency that has claimed more than 11,000 lives since 1996 in the Hindu kingdom sandwiched between China and India.

Meanwhile, Nepali King Gyanendra’s assumption of power has opened the way for direct talks with Maoist guerrillas, the home minister said on Friday, urging the rebels to seize a chance for peace after years of war.

Dan Bahadur Shahi, making a first appeal to the rebels who hold swathes of countryside, said the new government was ready to discuss anything, including the constituent assembly the rebels are demanding to decide the role of the monarchy.

“We have kept our options open, let us first come to the table, we will discuss every aspect, including a constitutional assembly,” Shahi told the news agency in an interview in his expansive office in the fortified Singha Durbar, the seat of government.

“Our first priority is peace, peace talks,” said Shahi, handpicked by the king to lead the powerful interior ministry which, together with the military, is in charge of tackling the rebellion that has killed more than 11,000 people in nine years. agencies Sphere: Related Content