Hundreds Of Maoists Killed In Air Strikes

Army helicopter attacks in the western stronghold of Maoist guerrillas have killed more than 200 rebels, a government spokesman said Monday.

"In yesterday's operations, more than 200 Maoists were killed," said Achhyut Wagle, the prime minister's spokesman.

Separately, a senior government official said on condition of anonymity that several senior Maoist leaders, including at least six members of the group's Central Committee, were among a group of rebels surrounded by the army in dense forests of the Rolpa and Pyuthan districts.

The official said that two other top Maoist leaders had escaped, including Krishna Bahadur Mohara, who participated in peace talks before breaking them off and resuming attacks on government forces last November.

Wagle said the army's operations, and the estimates of casualties, were made difficult by the remoteness of the area and the continuing bad weather.

Defense Ministry spokesman Tana Gautam told the AP that 21 bodies of rebels had been discovered Monday. Earlier, 65 bodies were found in the Rolpa area and 43 in the Doti region, he said, but did not give the dates.

"It is very difficult to give precise casualty figures," Wagle said. The government's death tolls estimates are mostly based on circumstantial evidence found by soldiers battling in the mountainous terrain.

Body parts or pools of blood may be found, "or signs of bloodstained bodies having been dragged away," said Wagle.

"The terrorists often take the bodies away, or bury them," said Gautam, adding, "The first priority is to apprehend the terrorists, not to count the heads."

The army continued sweeps Monday against the guerrillas, who have been fighting for six years to replace Nepal's constitutional monarchy with communist rule. Soldiers raided two abandoned rebel bunkers, finding rations, weapons and ammunition, a senior government official said on condition of anonymity.

The strikes came as Nepal's prime minister left on a trip to the United States and Britain to seek material assistance against the insurgents.

Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba left Sunday to meet U.S. President George W. Bush in Washington later Monday. He was then scheduled to travel to London to meet British Prime Minister Tony Blair on Saturday.

"We are seeking all sorts of help, except the presence of American soldiers here," Wagle told the AP on Sunday. "We are seeking arms and ammunition, helicopter gunships and other military supplies."

The Bush administration recently asked Congress for $20 million in non-combat military aid for Nepal, including army uniforms, provisions and medical supplies.

After suffering heavy casualties in recent weeks, Nepalese soldiers and police have hit back at the rebels, who fought a poorly equipped bush war for years but now possess machine guns and rocket launchers seized from the army.

Security forces claimed to have killed more than 360 guerrillas in gun battles and several hundred more in air attacks since Thursday, against the loss of three soldiers and one police officer.

The killings are the worst spate of violence in Nepal's modern history.

The death toll has not been independently confirmed. The rebels usually do not comment on clashes with the army.

Human rights groups, which accuse both sides of atrocities, have no access to the region where the fighting is going on. Journalists also cannot reach there.

Army helicopters fitted with night-vision devices carried out the air strikes in the remote western districts of Rolpa and Pyuthan, Wagle said. Nepal does not have an air force or fighter jets.

The Maoist insurgency began in Rolpa and Pyuthan, feeding on crippling poverty and poor governance. In many parts of Rolpa and neighboring areas in northwestern Nepal, the rebels ran a parallel administration and courts that provided quick justice.

In Monday's raids, security forces found an imported AK-47 assault rifle, raising speculation that the Maoist guerrillas may also be obtaining weapons from abroad.