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KATHMANDU, Jan 6 (AFP) - A consignment of 3,000 M-16 rifles from the United States has arrived in Nepal, local media reported Monday.

The shipment that arrived Sunday is part of a total 5,000 rifles Washington agreed to provide Nepal under the administration of former prime minister Sher Bahadur Deuba, the state-run RSS agency said.

The military and police have until now used traditional weapons to fight Maoist rebels, who launched their people's war in 1996.

The consignment is believed unrelated to 12 million dollars offered last week by the United States for the battle with the Maoists, which has claimed more than 7,700 lives according to army figures.

Deuba had traveled to Washington in May, where he secured a strong vow of support from President George W. Bush.

But he was sacked by the king in October and a new government was installed.

Last year a military team from the US Pacific command toured far western parts of the Himalayan kingdom, to assess the government's needs.

Washington is said to be dismayed by the growing strength of the insurgency, concerned for both its human cost and the threat it poses to democracy in Nepal.

The State Department has issued several warnings to Americans in the kingdom in the wake of repeated Maoist threats against Washington's diplomats. Two locally-hired US security guards in Nepal have been killed.

Nepal is also due to receive 5,600 Minimi rifles from Belgium.

The first consignment of 2,800 rifles failed to reach Nepal after India refused to allow the aircraft to fly through its airspace last month, leaving it to land in Kazakhstan.

An Indian embassy diplomatic source in Kathmandu said the necessary permission has now been given and the consignment should arrive in Nepal soon. 

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