1 disappearance a day in Nepali civil war

The London-based human rights group said both sides in the bloody civil war were to blame and called for urgent legal measures to end a "culture of impunity."

Amnesty International said it had recorded 622 disappearances in the Himalayan kingdom since 1998, more than half of them since a truce and peace talks collapsed in August 2003.

"This represents an alarming increase in the scale of the problem, with an average of more than one case reported to Amnesty International each day since the ceasefire ended," it said.

Amnesty said security forces, often dressed as civilians, regularly snatched people suspected of supporting the guerrillas, in violation of Nepalese law which requires the military to hand detainees to civilian authorities within 24 hours of arrest.