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KATHMANDU, Sunday (AFP) Nepal's government and Maoist rebels could resume talks within a week, a government-appointed intermediary said, after the guerrillas backed down on threats to quit the peace process.

"The government is preparing an agenda which will be ready by Thursday and the talks may resume Friday," said Shailendra Kumar Upadhyay, one of four go-betweens designated by the two sides.

"I am confident the Maoists will come to the talks," Upadhyay told reporters. If held, the talks would mark a dramatic turnaround within one week.

The Maoists had threatened to walk out of the peace process if the government did not meet a series of demands by July 31. The government only clearly met one demand - releasing four senior Maoists from prison - but the rebels said Thursday they would continue peace talks.

The Maoists, whose seven-year insurgency to topple the constitutional monarchy has left more than 7,800 dead, have been observing a ceasefire with the government since January 29.

But the two sides have not held formal talks in nearly three months, with scattered violence around the kingdom leading to fears the peace process was collapsing. In the latest skirmish, authorities said suspected Maoists shot at two plainclothes police officers who were taking part in relief efforts after mudslides in the Nawalparasi district, 380 kilometers (240 miles) southwest of Kathmandu.

"One of policemen, Bishnu Prasad Yadav, was killed instantly but the other policeman escaped," a police official said.

Before the Maoists announced they were staying in talks, rebel sources said the guerrillas had resolved to shoot soldiers who ventured more than five kilometers (three miles) outside their barracks.

The Maoists insist the government agreed at the last talks May 9 to curb troop movements and the rebels made the restrictions on soldiers a demand for staying in talks. The government replied that the issue was irrelevant as troops were only sent so far out of their barracks in unusual circumstances.

Chief Maoist negotiator Baburam Bhattarai is seeking a firm commitment that the government will enact agreements from negotiations, said Padma Ratna Tuladhar, another intermediary in the talks who was appointed by the Maoists.

"I have conveyed this message to the government's peace team, Finance Minister Prakash Chandra Lohani and Information Minister Kamal Thapa, telling them the outcome of peace dialogues must be implemented in letter and spirit, Tuladhar told AFP.

Maoist supremo Pushpa Kamal Dahal - known by the alias "Prachanda," or "The Fierce" - called in his response to the government Thursday for more participation in the peace process by Nepal's five main parties, which reject the authority of Prime Minister Surya Bahadur Thapa because he was unelected.

Tuladhar said the government team told him it had invited the five-party alliance to take part in the next talks. If the parties attend, it could trigger a resolution to the 10-month political standoff since King Gyanendra dissolved the elected government. But the parties are unlikely to accept the offer as they want the premier to leave and an all-party government to be set up.

"We greatly appreciate Maoist leaders telling the government to include us in the peace dialogue but we will not attend the meeting," said Bharat Mohan Adhikari, a leader of one of the anti-Thapa parties, the Nepal Communist Party-United Marxist and Leninist.

"We are ready to hold peace talks with the Maoists but not with the Thapa government there," he told AFP.

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