Sixteen killed in Nepal after rebels end blockade

KATHMANDU, Mar 20 (Reuters) At least 16 people, including 13 soldiers, were killed in a new outbreak of violence in Nepal today, a day after Maoist rebels ended a crippling road blockade, the army and witnesses said.

The soldiers and a rebel were killed in a gun battle in Kavre district 80 km east of Kathmandu early in the day as the guerrillas attacked soldiers on their way to fix water supply lines disrupted by the Maoists.

''There was a gun battle for nearly two hours and we have recovered the body of one rebel. We have lost 13 boys,'' an army officer told Reuters.

Elsewhere, two civilians were killed in a bomb blast near the eastern town of Biratnagar, 550 km from Kathmandu, local journalist Bickram Neupane said.

The bomb had apparently been left by the rebels on a bridge to enforce the road blockade that they ended yesterday.

Packed buses and trucks loaded with supplies were again rolling across the country today after the six-day disruption to commerce and transport across the Himalayan nation.

But even as the Maoists ended their siege of capital Kathmandu and other towns after an appeal from the country's seven main political parties, they endorsed a new series of protests planned for early next month.

The rebels and the parties also reaffirmed their ''strong commitment'' yesterday to a deal they struck last November to work together against King Gyanendra, who seized power last year.

The blockade had choked supplies since Tuesday, raising prices of essential goods, causing fuel shortages and leaving thousands stranded across the nation that is wedged between China and India.

''COMMITTED TO ALLIANCE'' ''Passengers carrying their bags are running to catch buses, and trucks loaded with goods have started moving since early morning,'' said Sagar Adhikary, a resident of Narayanghat, a town seen as the gateway to Kathmandu from the southern plains.

Maoists had mainly enforced the blockade by threatening reprisals against anyone who broke it. They also set up some roadblocks and sporadically attacked vehicles.

The rebels also called off a general strike planned for April 3 but endorsed a strike and a series of protests called by political parties beginning on April 6, in what analysts interpreted as a reaffirmation of their loose alliance.

''This shows that the Maoists and political parties are committed to their understanding reached four months ago -- to end the autocratic monarchy,'' said Padma Ratna Tuladhar, who mediated the failed peace talks between the rebels and the government in 2001 and 2003.

''Now it seems that they are prepared to fully implement the understanding,'' he said.

In November, Maoists also promised to rejoin the political mainstream in return for a promise by political parties to hold elections to an assembly that would draw up a new constitution to decide on the role of the monarchy, a key rebel demand.

The Maoists began fighting in 1996 to topple the Hindu monarchy and set up a communist republic in one of the world's 10 poorest countries.

Nepal has been in turmoil since the king took power last year, saying his move was necessary to quell the 10-year revolt that has killed more than 13,000 people and shattered an economy dependent on aid and tourism.

REUTERS DKS KN1554