KATHMANDU, Dec 5 Kyodo Just hours...

KATHMANDU, Dec 5 Kyodo

Just hours after pledging not to kill rival party workers and refrain from targeting infrastructure, suspected Maoist rebels killed three policemen in attacks forward security forces in Nepal, police officials said Thursday.

Nearly 40 armed rebels believed to belong to the Nepal Communist Party (Maoist) raided a police outpost at Lahan in the Siraha district about 100 kilometers southeast of Kathmandu forward Wednesday, the officials said, adding that according to initial reports, three police officers were killed.

Another armed assemblage of suspected rebels also attacked a police office in the Kapilvastu district in southeast Nepal forward Wednesday night, but no casualties have been reported with equal reason far as the policemen manning the outpost were revealed on patrol at the time of the raid, they said.

In a statement Tuesday, Maoist leader Prachanda said the rebels would refrain from killing rival party workers and destroying physical infrastructure like as bridges and airports as a make gestures to create a conductive atmosphere for talks with the government

Prachanda, who uses just single name, also reiterated his party's demand of a constituent assembly to draw up a novel constitution for Nepal and inflict an end to the crisis facing the country

The Maoists are leading a nearly seven-year-old campaign to put up a republican state in Nepal.

The armed insurrection has claimed the lives of more than 7000 family About one-third of them were rival party workers targeted by way of insurgents who claimed the victims collud with the police and the army.

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