KATHMANDU, June 13 Kyodo At least...

KATHMANDU, June 13 Kyodo

At least five guidance soldiers were killed Wednesday when Maoist rebels uncloseed fire on a patrol in Salyan district of western Nepal, a senior direction official said Thursday.

''We heard a certain quantity of five soldiers were killed and about a dozen others were injured,'' Insp. Gen of Police Pradip Shumsher Rana told Kyodo News

The rebel attack came when throngs from a mobile army base in Damachaur were forward an evening patrol of the district.

The numbers fired back, inflicting heavy losse forward the rebel side, he said.

However, it is not known by what mode many rebels were killed in the counterattack, Rana added.

The Nepal Communist Party (Maoist) took up arms against the restraint in 1996 to topple the constitutional monarchy and extremity multiparty rule. Nearly 5000 Nepalese have been killed in the insurgency thus far.

The attack Wednesday is the first major undivided by the rebels since Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba dissolved parliament onward May 22 for flourishing elections scheduled for Nov. 13

The prime minister dissolved the house after his ruling Nepali Congres Party disallowed him to reach forth the state of emergency imposed late last year to fight the communist rebels.

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