Nepal agrees to meet Maoist demand

A group of Nepalese human rights activists stage a demonstration protesting against the Maoist blockade in Kathmandu yesterday. The demonstrators gathered to protest against the Maoist rebel blockade of Kathmandu, which began on August 18. PHOTO: AFP

The government said it would investigate and make public within 30 days the whereabouts of an unspecified number of leftist activists who have disappeared in the Himalayan kingdom's increasingly deadly civil war.

The acceptance of a key rebel demand came after the blockade, which has been enforced mostly through fear, turned violent for the first time.

Two rebels opened fire on police and soldiers guarding Kathmandu's Land Registration office soon after the building was badly damaged by a bomb, said Deputy Superin-tendent of Police Ganesh K.C.

The rebels then fled.

One police officer was injured in the attack and taken to hospital where he was in serious condition, the superintendent said.

The attack prompted staff to close down the office, which had remained open despite the blockade that has stalled transport links and sent prices soaring in the city of 1.5 million people.

Another bomb exploded at an empty police post on the outskirts of Kathmandu Friday and caused no injuries, police said.

The Maoists, who have taken over vast swathes of the countryside in their eight-year war to overthrow the monarchy, announced the blockade of the capital after their threats, including a bombing at a top hotel, led some 24 major companies to shut down.

Information Minister Moha-mmad Mohsin appealed for normality in Kathmandu and said the government would probe the whereabouts of missing Maoists and trade union activists.

"We will make public the results of our investigation within 30 days," Mohsin told reporters.