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/ 1 February 2005
King Gyanendra dismissed Nepal’s coalition government on Tuesday and took charge of administering the country, which is battling a Maoist revolt, as political leaders accused him of staging a coup. Gyanendra promised to ”restore democracy and law and order in the country in the next three years”.
Children played on Wednesday on a main highway in southern Nepal as a Maoist blockade of the capital brought intercity traffic to a halt and left many residents of the Himalayan kingdom fuming. The Maoists said they will keep up the blockade indefinitely until their demands are met.
A landmine planted by suspected Maoist rebels in Nepal killed 21 policemen and injured 16 others on Monday as a top guerrilla rejected calls by the prime minister to reopen peace talks.The policemen were on a search mission for Maoist hideouts in the insurgency-torn southwestern Nepalgunj district when their truck was blown up by underground explosives, police said.
Nepal’s international aid partners have pledged up to -million in aid to boost the economy and help the fight against Maoist rebels, officials said.
Hidden under a sweaty white hospital sheet, Khadga Bahadur Pun’s scarred left leg lies useless, four months after he was beaten by Maoist rebels.
Fourteen Maoist rebels and two Nepalese troops were killed in a fresh round of violence around the kingdom, officials and newspapers said on Friday.