Six policemen hurt in fresh Nepal violence

Kathmandu, Jan 21: Six policemen were wounded when 200 Maoists attacked a police post in western Nepal just days after the former rebels joined the country's political mainstream by entering parliament, an official said today.

Armed with batons and stones, the rebels stormed a recently reopened police station yesterday at Patabhar, 350 km southwest of the capital, Kathmandu.

''Three of the wounded policemen have been rushed to a nearby hospital with head injuries,'' district official Shiva Nepal said.

''The Maoists ransacked the post, threw out belongings and utensils of the policemen before leaving the area,'' he added.

Maoist leaders were not immediately available for comment.

Nearly 2,000 police posts, closed during the 10-year anti-monarchy Maoist revolt, are being reopened across Nepal after rebels and government signed a peace deal in November.

This is the second violent incident since former rebel leaders walked into an interim parliament last week.

On Friday, a 16-year-old boy was killed when a rebel shot at a crowd of protesters in southeastern Nepal.

REUTERS

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