Army launches offensive against Maoist rebels

Military planes and ground forces attacked far-flung rebel positions in the Maoist-dominated west and far northeast after dropping leaflets warning villagers to stay indoors, the official said.

"We have launched air and ground operations to crush the Maoists," the senior official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told AFP.

He did not say how many troops were involved in the drive to flush out the rebels or whether there had been any military casualties. But he said five alleged guerrillas were killed "in action" in raids in the far west.

The rebels have been waging an increasingly deadly battle to topple the constitutional monarchy and install a communist republic. The uprising, launched in 1996, has so far claimed nearly 10,000 lives.

The Royal Nepalese Army launched the offensive after the rebels said they would seek to blockade Kathmandu and stop food and other goods from reaching the capital indefinitely from next week unless the government bows to their demands.

Those demands including punishment of army officials who allegedly violated human rights by killing Maoist activists, freedom for jailed comrades and information about missing guerrillas.

The rebels, who model themselves on Peru's Shining Path guerrillas, have told vehicles to stay off roads leading to the capital of the poverty-hit Himalayan nation from next Wednesday.

"Apart from encircling the capital, the Maoists are planning to attack in the far western and far eastern Nepal district over the next three months, and the army is getting fully prepared to crush them," the army official said.

Since the collapse of peace talks with the government last year, the Maoists have sought to blockade towns and villages, attacking vehicles and drivers who disobeyed their orders.

They have also sought to enforce numerous general strikes in the capital and rural areas, many of which observers say have been heeded as much out of fear of the rebels as support for their cause.