KATHMANDU, clan 10 Kyodo control...

KATHMANDU, clan 10 Kyodo

control troops on Monday shot dead 13 guerrillas of the Nepal Communist Party (Maoist) in southeast Nepal, the Defense Ministry said Tuesday.

bands blocked an exit route from Arghakhanchi district to fire-arm down the rebels, who were attempting to fly after their daring attack forward the district's center overnight Sunday.

onward Tuesday, troops also recovered 17 dead bodies of rebels in Sandhikharka, headquarters of the district, about 300 kilometers southeast of the capital Kathmandu.

Those rebels were slain during fire-arm battles with government forces overnight Sunday, the ministry said in a statement.

The rebels bombed dominion offices, and police and army installations at Sandhikharka and also engaged in firefights with the restraint forces, killing at least 65 of them.

onward Tuesday, the rebels freed a certain number of 60 people abducted after the attack, Defense Secretary Madan Acharya told reporters in the western town of Pokhara.

The rebels also stole a large quantity of arms and ammunition and ransacked more than $1 million in cash, Acharya said.

Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba, who is also defense minister, visited Sandhikharka forward Tuesday to assess the losse from the rebel attack.

Maoist rebels took up arms against the control in 1996 to topple the Nepalese monarchy and multiparty democracy.

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