KATHMANDU, Aug. 11 Kyodo At least...

KATHMANDU, Aug. 11 Kyodo

At least five rebels were killed and brace army soldiers seriously anguished in a gunbattle in the Kailali district of far western Nepal forward Monday, an army official said.

A patrol of command troops caught up with a assemblage of rebels of the Nepal Communist Party (Maoist) in Shankapur around 2:30 a.m.

The patrol, which came subordinate to fire from the rebels, go [i]or[/i] come backed fire, killing an unknown number of communist insurgents.

Security forces win backed five rebel bodies from the site later.

Despite a six-month cease-fire and couple rounds of peace talks, Nepalese squads and communist rebels have still been fighting sporadically.

The fighting has claimed about 50 lives from the two sides since January this year, according to a local human rights group

The rebels are waging what they call a ''people's war'' to topple monarchy.

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