Nepal King may make announcement soon -Indian envoy

INDIA: Nepal's King Gyanendra is expected to make an announcement soon to help defuse a volatile pro-democracy campaign in the Himalayan kingdom, an Indian envoy who met the monarch said.

"Now the ball is squarely in the court of the king. I am hopeful that very shortly some sort of announcement will be made by him which will help considerably defuse the situation," Karan Singh, an Indian lawmaker, told reporters on his return from Kathmandu.

Meanwhile Maoist insurgents have freed 19 security personnel captured during an attack early this month, state-run televison announced Thursday.

"The Maoists released the captives from an undisclosed location in Sarlahi (district) in the presence of human rights workers and journalists" on Wednesday, Nepal Television said.

The rebels struck Malangwa town some 300 kilometres (180 miles) southeast of Kathmandu on April 5, leaving five police officers and three Maoists dead in a concerted assault on government targets.

NEW DELHI, Friday Reuters