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KATHMANDU, May 11 (Reuters) - Nepal said on Saturday its soldiers had killed at least 27 Maoist guerrillas fighting to topple the Himalayan kingdom's constitutional monarchy in latest assaults over the past 24 hours.

The Defence Ministry said in a statement 23 rebels were killed in a battle on Friday with security forces at Bajura, 500 kms (312 miles) west of Kathmandu. The rest were gunned down in clashes elsewhere in the Himalayan kingdom late on Friday.

Nepal said on Saturday its army operations against the Maoist rebels would continue despite reports the guerrillas had called for a month-long ceasefire.

On Thursday, some Nepali newspapers had received an email believed to be from Maoist commander Prachanda announcing a month-long truce from May 15 in the ongoing conflict that has so far claimed more than 4,000 lives across the impoverished nation.

But a top-ranking rebel leader, Dina Nath Sharma, denied the report in an interview with the BBC and said Prachanda would issue a formal statement disowning the email message. No formal statement has been received yet.

Maoist guerrillas have been fighting for the past six years to set up a one-party communist republic in the mountainous nation. Soldiers have been mobilised under an emergency rule to stamp out the rebellion since the insurgents walked out of peace talks and broke a truce in last November.

Nepal's Information and Communications Minister told Reuters on Friday that the rebels, inspired by the revolutionary ideas of China's communist leader Mao Zedong, must lay down arms taken away from army garrisons, stop killing "innocent people" and stop destroying infrastructure to show their sincerity and commitment to talks. 

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