Nepal's army Thursday denied a state-run radio report that hundreds of Maoists were killed in a clash with soldiers near the site of a road blockade west of the capital. "We don't have any information about the killing of hundreds of Maoists," an army official said when asked about the radio report late Wednesday. "I don't know on what basis the radio reported the killing of hundreds of rebels."
The report said the rebels and the army were engaged in a fierce battle and scores of people were killed near the site of the blockade. The army official said eight soldiers were killed in fighting near the road blockade and that seven reported as missing elsewhere were safe. Nepal's Maoists staged a blockade of traffic Tuesday and Wednesday on a major road to and from Kathmandu in protest at the killing of four rebels. The blockade was centered where the rebels were killed last week in the district capital of Dhading, 90 kilometers (50 miles) west of Kathmandu on the road leading to the tourist destination of Pokhara. |