Nepal's Maoists fire on army patrol, kill cab driver

KATHMANDU: Maoist guerrillas fired on an army patrol in east Nepal and gunned down a taxi driver as violence continued ahead of the country's first local election in seven years.

A police officer said rebels killed a cab driver late on Monday in the temple town of Lalitpur on the outskirts of Kathmandu apparently for defying their call for a week-long strike aimed at disrupting Wednesday's elections.

The municipal poll is the country's first since 1999.

The election, ordered by King Gyanendra who fired the government and seized absolute power last year, has been boycotted by main political groups. The parties are demanding that the king hand power back to an all-party government.

Political leaders say that they fear the king will use the municipal polls to further tighten his grip on power.

The Maoists, who want to overthrow the monarchy, began a nationwide shutdown campaign on Sunday.

Kathmandu's usually bustling shopping districts and crowded streets have been deserted since the strike began, and more troops have been posted in and around the hill-ringed capital.

The attack on the army patrol also took place on Monday at Karmagachi village, 450 km (280 miles) east of Kathmandu, triggering a firefight. "Six of our boys were hurt in the clash," an army officer told Reuters.

There was no information on rebel casualties.

Another group of guerrillas fired from a hilltop on a security post in Panauti town, 30 km (20 miles) east of Kathmandu.

Earlier two people were killed and four others wounded by Maoists on the second day of a general strike called by the rebels to disrupt Nepal's first elections since a royal takeover a year ago.

Meanwhile, the army said in a statement that three Maoists had been killed in separate incidents since Saturday. Two blew themselves up when making bombs, while a third was killed in far west Nepal during "security actions," it said. Kathmandu, Tuesday, Reuters/AFP