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Shirish B Pradhan in Kathmandu
Nepal Maoists on Wednesday attacked military barracks and clashed with the security forces, as the army stepped up operations against the guerrillas, killing over 60 of them, official sources said.
Thirteen rebels were killed and five arrested following a fierce gunbattle with the army in Salyan district, 400 km west of Kathmandu, a defence ministry release said.
The army also recovered a truckload of arms and ammunitions and local currency looted by the Maoists when they had attacked an army barrack in Dang district last Friday, it said, adding that the army did not suffer any casualties.
The army stepped up operations against the rebels after a declaration of emergency on Monday.
The guerrillas detonated home made pipe bombs at the army barracks in Charikot in Dholka district, 168 km northeast of Kathmandu, on Wednesday morning.
About 50 Maoists were killed in an encounter with the army in Rolpa district on Tuesday, according to a vernacular daily.
There were unconfirmed reports that security personnel had killed ten suspected terrorists in Dang district.
The incident took place on Wednesday afternoon when the victims were working in a rice field, the report said.
The police also stopped a prominent human rights activist, Padma Ratna Tuladhar, from leaving the country for a medical check up and briefly arrested him without a warrant.
Tuladhar was detained at the Tribhuwan International Airport, as he was about to board an Indian Airlines jet bound for New Delhi. He was later released.
"I told the police that I was going to India because of heart problems, but they put me in a van and took me to the district police office," Tuladhar told a news agency.
He was suffering from the effects of blockages in his arteries and was going to see a doctor at All India Institute of Medical Sciences.
PTI
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