King Gyanendra dismissed Nepal’s coalition government on Tuesday and took charge of administering the country, which is battling a Maoist revolt, as political leaders accused him of staging a coup. Gyanendra promised to ”restore democracy and law and order in the country in the next three years”.
Children played on Wednesday on a main highway in southern Nepal as a Maoist blockade of the capital brought intercity traffic to a halt and left many residents of the Himalayan kingdom fuming. The Maoists said they will keep up the blockade indefinitely until their demands are met.
A landmine planted by suspected Maoist rebels in Nepal killed 21 policemen and injured 16 others on Monday as a top guerrilla rejected calls by the prime minister to reopen peace talks.The policemen were on a search mission for Maoist hideouts in the insurgency-torn southwestern Nepalgunj district when their truck was blown up by underground explosives, police said.
Fourteen Maoist rebels and two Nepalese troops were killed in a fresh round of violence around the kingdom, officials and newspapers said on Friday.
Nepal’s international aid partners have pledged up to -million in aid to boost the economy and help the fight against Maoist rebels, officials said.
Hidden under a sweaty white hospital sheet, Khadga Bahadur Pun’s scarred left leg lies useless, four months after he was beaten by Maoist rebels.
