US envoy unhurt as Nepal Maoists stone car

KATHMANDU, May 25 (Reuters) Maoist activists stoned a car carrying the US envoy in southeast Nepal today but the diplomat was not hurt, police and officials said.

Members of the Young Communist League (YCL), the Maoists' youth wing, hurled stones at the car outside the UN refugee agency office in the town of Damak, police officer Narayan Chimouriya told Reuters by telephone.

Damak is about 300 km southeast of Kathmandu.

''The stones hit the vehicle and caused some scratches to the car but the ambassador is safe,'' Chimouriya said.

A US embassy spokeswoman said Ambassador James F Moriarty, on a tour of U.N.-supported camps housing tens of thousands of refugees from nearby Bhutan, was unhurt.

Moriarty has been critical of the Maoists, who signed a peace deal with the government in November and joined an interim administration last month.

The former rebels, who have also taken seats in an interim parliament, still figure on a US list of terrorist organisations.

No arrests had yet been made and there was no immediate comment from the YCL.

REUTERS RJ BD1800