Nepal Says at Least 90 Rebels Slain in Gun Battles

Security forces killed at least 90 Maoist guerrillas in western Nepal overnight, the government said Friday. The skirmishes took place days before the prime minister visits Washington to seek help in fighting the rebels.

The death toll is among the largest since King Gyanendra imposed a state of emergency Nov. 26, ordering the army to clamp down on the rebels after they withdrew from peace talks and attacked government troops and offices.

The rebels, who operate in more than half of this mountainous Himalayan kingdom of exquisite beauty and violent politics, are demanding sweeping land reforms and an end to the constitutional monarchy.

Their insurgency has claimed more than 3,000 lives since it began in 1996.

The human rights group Amnesty International has accused both the security forces and the insurgents of killing civilians and committing other atrocities.

Two army soldiers also were killed and another was wounded in the latest gun battles with the rebels, the Defense Ministry said in a statement.

At least 40 guerrillas were killed Thursday night during a gun battle with Nepalese army forces in Lisne, a village some 200 miles west of the capital, Katmandu, the statement said.

The fighting in Lisne started when Maoists attacked a team of security forces patrolling the area, the government said.

Elsewhere, security forces gunned down at least 50 guerrillas in the village of Bhagal, about 300 miles west of Katmandu, the ministry said.

State-run Radio Nepal quoted its correspondent in the area as saying that 150 rebels had been killed. Neither the ministry’s death toll nor the radio report could be independently confirmed.

The toll was the highest since battles on April 11 and 12 left more than 200 policemen and guerrilla fighters dead--the deadliest couple of days in the rebels’ 6-year-old campaign to replace Nepal’s constitutional monarchy with a communist state.

The government intensified its campaign against the rebels after the guerrillas called for a nationwide strike last month that did not get much public support.

The intensified fighting comes ahead of Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba’s visit to Washington this week. He is scheduled to meet with President Bush to discuss the insurgency.

The Bush administration recently asked Congress for $20 million in military aid for Nepal.

On Friday, Deuba rejected a reported offer by rebel leader Prachand to hold peace talks. Nepali newspapers on Thursday said they had received a statement from Prachand, whose real name is Pushpa Kamal Dahal, offering to resume talks that ended in a stalemate last year.

“There is no possibility of talks with the guerrillas until they surrender weapons to the security forces,” Deuba said.