KATHMANDU (AFP) - A nine-day truce between Maoist rebels and the Nepalese government has come to a bloody end, with 12 rebels killed in fierce clashes with security forces, an army source said.
The clashes occurred Friday and Saturday in various parts of the Himalayan kingdom, the source told AFP, asking not to be identified.
The truce, announced by the rebels and reciprocated by the government to mark a Hindu festival, ended Thursday midnight.
The government had offered to extend the ceasefire indefinitely on condition the Maoists followed suit.
However, fighting broke out Friday in the Siraha district, southeast of Kathmandu, where two rebels were killed in clashes with Nepalese security forces near the village of Mirchaiya, the source said.
Violence continued in the district through the night and another four rebels were gunned down by security forces early Saturday at Tetis Bigha locality.
Other clashes occurred Saturday at a village in far-eastern Taplejung district, where another four Maoists were killed, while two more rebels were shot dead in clashes at Chaurath in Dailekh district, far western Nepal, the source said.
The rebels have been fighting for a communist republic in Nepal since 1996 and the uprising has already claimed more than 10,000 lives.
10/30/2004 - 14:06 GMT - AFP