Maoists kill Nepali politician, aide
Candidates' homes bombed
Reuters, Afp, Kathmandu
Suspected Maoist rebels in Nepal have killed a politician and his aide ahead of next week's municipal elections, which the guerrillas have vowed to disrupt, a district official said yesterday. Trideni Majhi, a member of a small royalist party headed by a cabinet minister, and a colleague were shot late on Thursday by two alleged rebels in the town of Biratnagar, 450 km east of the capital, Kathmandu. Both men died later in hospital. Majhi had registered as a candidate for controversial Feb. 8 municipal elections called by King Gyanendra as part of his plan to restore democracy in the troubled Himalayan kingdom. Meanwhile, suspected rebels bombed late Thursday the homes of two candidates running for mayor in Tikapur in western Nepal, the army said in a statement, adding that no-one was hurt. There was no comment from the rebels who have threatened to thwart Wednesday's polls. The Maoists have been waging a decade-long "People's War" to topple the monarchy in the world's only Hindu kingdom. Gyanendra sacked the government and seized executive power on Feb. 1 last year. The move threw Nepal into turmoil as he jailed politicians and suspended civil liberties, triggering widespread protests at home and drawing stinging international criticism. The king said his takeover had been necessary to crush an insurgency that has left more than 13,000 dead since 1996 and to tackle endemic corruption. Street protests erupted across the country on Wednesday, the anniversary of Gyanendra's power grab, despite a promise by the palace to hold national polls by 2007. Main political parties are boycotting the municipal elections, the first in Nepal in six years, saying they were aimed solely at prolonging the king's rule, and have entered into a loose alliance with the Maoists. The parties have launched a series of protests in the last few weeks, many of which have ended in street fighting between activists and heavily armed police and soldiers The Maoists have called for a week-long general strike starting from Sunday to disrupt the vote. They have targeted candidates with a string of bomb blasts and are blamed for the death of a politician last month in the southeastern town of Janakpur. Wednesday's polls are taking place in 58 districts with more than 4,000 seats up for grabs.
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