UPDATE ON NEPAL'S MAOIST INSURGENCY, SEPTEMBER 20-

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 KATHMANDU 001874

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E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PINS PTER CASC PGOV NP
SUBJECT: UPDATE ON NEPAL'S MAOIST INSURGENCY, SEPTEMBER 20-
26

REFERENCE: KATHMANDU 1849

SUMMARY
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1. According to local press accounts fifty-three Maoists,
nine policemen and two Royal Nepal Army (RNA) soldiers died
in clashes this week, along with two civilians. Two other
policemen were also assassinated by Maoists. Senior
officials from the Royal Nepal Army (RNA) declared that the
Maoists are no match for the RNA's strength. Maoist rebels
destroyed five police posts, and caused damage to several
repeater towers, resulting in loss of electricity and phone
services. The insurgents maintained their bombing campaign,
targeting multiple government buildings throughout Nepal.
Maoists reportedly murdered seventeen civilians in separate
incidents. End Summary.

ASSASSINATIONS AND CLASHES CLAIM MORE LIVES
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2. Maoist rebels continued their guerilla tactics of
individual assassinations, with the shooting death of two
policemen in broad daylight. On September 25, a policeman
guarding the appellate court in Biratnagar died after two
insurgents on a motorcycle drove by and shot him. In the
early morning of September 23, rebels assassinated an
assistant sub-inspector in Kathmandu as he was washing his
motorcycle. He was shot four times.


3. According to local press reports, clashes between
security forces and Maoists throughout Nepal again resulted
in high casualties. Eight Maoists and one Royal Nepal Army
(RNA) soldier were killed in separate clashes September 24-
25 in the western regions of Kailali and Dadeldhura, and in
the central district of Rupandehi. Fighting on September
21-22 left thirteen Maoists dead in the eastern districts of
Morang, Udayapur and Panchthar, while four rebels were
killed in clashes in the western regions of Banke and
neighboring Bardiya. On September 21 rebels also killed an
officer with the Armed Police Force (APF) in Dang District,
a Maoist stronghold, whom they had abducted the previous
day. Another policeman was killed in the central district
of Syangja. Twenty-eight Maoists and six security personnel
were killed in separate incidents between September 19-20.
Seventeen of the Maoist casualties took place once again in
the eastern district of Panchthar. The far-western district
of Accham was the site of a confrontation on September 20
that killed ten Maoists. One rebel was killed in Nuwakot,
and two police officers were killed in Dhading after a
Maoist laid landmine exploded. Two officers also were
killed in Kapilvastu. An APF officer responding to a Maoist
bomb plot near a bridge was killed in Dhading on September
19 following a clash that ensued after his arrival at the
scene. Another APF officer was also killed in Bajhang
District, in the northwest.


4. On September 20, two civilians were killed after getting
caught in a Maoist ambush meant for patrolling security
forces in Dhankuta, and two police and a seven-year-old
child caught in the crossfire, suffered injuries during a
confrontation with rebels in the western district of
Surkhet.


5. On September 23, senior officials from the Royal Nepal
Army (RNA) declared that the Maoists are facing a shortage
of ammunition, and alleged that a decline in the insurgents'
strength had forced them to resort to individual
assassinations. Lt. Colonel Kaji Bahadur Khatri, speaking
to reporters from the Western Division Headquarters, said
the Maoist "army" is inadequate and unable to "give a good
fight." Khatri alleged that the insurgents are using small-
scale violence and assassinations of security personnel in
an attempt to damage the morale of the army, but defiantly
declared that RNA soldiers are well equipped and confident.

BOMB BLASTS CONTINUE
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6. On September 24, bombs blasted through an Industrial
Development Committee building in the central district of
Gulmi, causing over USD 13,ooo in damages, and two Village
Development Committee (VDC) offices were destroyed by
Maoists in Kapilvastu District. Maoist planted bombs
damaged a VDC member's house on September 22 in Khotang
District, in the east, and a District Education office in
the far western district of Banke. Government buildings
were once again targeted on September 20 in the districts of
Dhading and Ilam, where Maoists detonated bombs at a VDC
office and a finance office, and also destroyed the house of
a police officer in Nuwakot District. On September 18,
Maoists detonated bombs in the districts of Darchula and
Gulmi, in the far west and central regions of Nepal
respectively, and in the eastern districts of Panchthar and
Mohattari. The rebels targeted VDC, government and office
buildings, including the ancestral house of a former
education Minister.


7. Five police posts throughout Nepal were torched and
destroyed by rebels, including an attack on a police post at
Khudunabari Bhutanese Refuge Camp in the southeast (reftel)
which killed one policeman on September 21. Police posts in
Saptari, and the south central districts of Kapilvastu and
neighboring Rupandehi were also destroyed.

CIVILIANS SUFFER AMID INSURGENCY
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8. The dead body of a Nepali Congress committee member, who
had been abducted by Maoists on September 24, was found in
Morang District on September 25. On September 23, a VDC
chairman reportedly was killed by Maoists in Jhapa District,
and on that same day, rebels shot a Nepali Congress (NC)
secretary in the eastern district of Kavre. A Rastriya

SIPDIS
Prajatantra Party (RPP) student leader reportedly was
murdered by Maoists in Chitwan on September 21. On
September 22, five civilians were killed by Maoists in
separate incidents in Kanchanpur, Arghakhanci, Morang and
Dhanusha District, including two NC workers. Rebels
reportedly killed three civilians in the western district of
Dang on September 21, and severely injured another in a
separate incident in the eastern district of Dhankuta.


9. On September 20, also in Dang, a member of the Communist
Party of Nepal-United Marxist Leninist (CPN-UML) reportedly
was allegedly murdered by Maoists. Party members of the CPN-
UML have condemned their cadre's murder by the Maoists as
part of a "hatred game," and called on the insurgents to
stop their brutal violence. Maoists reportedly also killed
a husband and wife in Dhanusha District on September 20
because they were supporters of the RPP. In the eastern
district of Sunsari, security forces said Maoists were
responsible for the decapitation of a civilian on September
20, and reportedly also killed a local leader that same day
in his home in Surkhet District.


10. On September 22, a former VDC chairman reportedly was
abducted in Dhading District by Maoists and beaten severely
with an iron rod. The rebels then ordered him to leave the
village. On September 17, Maoist rebels reportedly also
abducted a teacher in northeastern district of
Sindhupalchowk. According to press reports, families of
security personnel in Kanchanpur are being forced out of
their homes by Maoists. The insurgents reportedly have
threatened to kill them if they return to the village.
Maoists in Ramechhap have also locked up the homes of
seventeen families throughout the district, accusing them of
being informants for the security forces. Rebels in the
western district of Rolpa reportedly also have banned all
vehicular traffic, depriving the local villagers of public
and private transportation, and prohibiting delivery of
food.

ATTACKS ON INFRASTRUCTURE
--------------


11. The Maoist cadres' trail of destruction continued with
the September 22 bombing of a power supply building in the
far western district of Accham, and the demolition of a
repeater tower in neighboring Bajura District, causing loss
of telephone service in the region. On that same day,
Maoists in Nuwakot District, north of Kathmandu, set fire to
equipment being used to clear landslides in the area. On
September 20, in the city of Hetauda, south of Kathmandu,
insurgents blew up two mobile phone towers, and a repeater
tower servicing over 400 telephone lines, was destroyed by
the insurgents on September 18 in Lamjung District. A group
of Maoists attacked the same repeater tower two years ago.
According to the Chief of Nepal Telecommunication
Corporation (NCC),the tower has been "damaged beyond
repair," and a new repeater would not be installed until
"peace is restored." Also on that day, a group of
insurgents detonated a bomb at an airport in the western
district of Rukum.

MALINOWSKI