UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 KATHMANDU 001885

SIPDIS

STATE TO SA/INS
STATE ALSO PASS USAID/DCHA/OFDA
LONDON FOR POL - RIEDEL
MANILA FOR USAID/DCHA/OFDA

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PTER PINS NP
SUBJECT: NEPAL: MAOIST ATROCITIES ESCALATE

REF: A. (A) KATHMANDU 1832


B. (B) KATHMANDU 1791

C. (C) KATHMANDU 1741

D. (D) KATHMANDU 1640 AND PREVIOUS

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CIVILIANS KILLED
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1. This message updates reporting on Maoist attacks on
civilian targets (Ref D) during the month of September. In
addition to their demolition of a helicopter on a
humanitarian mission and the kidnapping of schoolchildren
reported Ref A and the series of bomb explosions in Kathmandu
before the September 16 general strike (Ref B), the
insurgents increased their attacks on civilians, schools, and
infrastructure throughout the reporting period.


2. The Maoists killed 55 civilians during the month of
September--the highest civilian death toll in any month in

2002. At least 16 of those killed were identified as
local-level party workers of the ruling Nepali Congress; five
were members of the Communist Party of Nepal - United Marxist
Leninist (UML), the largest Opposition party; two were
teachers; and one a retired soldier. During the September 8
attack on district headquarters in Arghakhanchi (Ref C), six
civilians were killed. Another two children were killed
three days later after playing with an unexploded grenade
left behind in the attack.


3. On September 2 the Maoists killed a 72-year-old farmer in
eastern Ramechhap District. On September 8 in Rautahat
District along Nepal's southeast border with India, Shesh
Abdulla, a former head of the local Village Development
Council, was hacked to death. On September 14, the
insurgents beheaded Lekhnath Chapagain in eastern Ilam
District. On September 16, during the Maosits' general
strike, or "bandh," a woman was killed by a bomb in Kaski
District in the central region of the country. The following
day in Kavre District, about 30 km southeast of Kathmandu,
the driver of a milk truck was killed in a Maoist ambush. On
September 20 in southeastern Udayapur District insurgents,
angry that Devaki Katuwal had said she was unable to make
dinner for them, stabbed the 80-year-old woman to death. On
September 21 in southwestern Banke District Sajat Ali Sheikh
and Tribeni Prasad Gupta were beaten to death for being
alleged police informants. On September 25 the mutiliated
body of Jayaram Shrestha, an Opposition party youth leader,
was found in the jungle in Dhading, the district adjoining
Kathmandu to the northwest, after he was abducted by Maoists.
Local people had reported finding notices announcing a
Maoist death sentence on Shrestha posted at various locations
in the town.

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ATTACKS ON INFRASTRUCTURE,
LOCAL GOVERNMENT
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4. On September 2 Maoists destroyed part of a small
hydroelectricity project in Panauti, Kavre District. The
project is no longer producing electricity. On September 6
the insurgents destroyed 2 local government buildings in
Tehrathum District, and nine Village Development Council
(VDC) buildings in Sindhupalchowk District the following day.
On September 9 the insurgents destroyed the District
Forestry Offices in Syangja and Pyuthan. On September 14
Maoists attacked an electricity substation in Rautahat
District, cutting off electric power to more than 125,000
people.

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TROUBLE FOR SCHOOLS
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5. On September 2 the insurgents torched five buses owned by
a private elementary school in southern Chitwan District.
The buses were empty at the time. A bomb exploded at a
secondary school in Syangja District the same day. No one
was injured. The local press reported September 24 that 11
schools in western Surkhet District had to close after their
teachers were forced to attend a Maoist meeting. Meanwhile,
in Syangja District, Maoists set fire to a private school and
threatened two others, forcing the indefinite closure of all
three. On September 24 the Maoist-affiliated All Nepal
National Independent Student Union (Revolutionary) set off an
early-morning bomb at a private school in Kathmandu about 4
km from the Embassy, damaging the school office and four
buses. No one was injured in the attack.
HALE