KATHMANDU, Feb 17 Kyodo at the s...

KATHMANDU, Feb 17 Kyodo

at the same time another antigovernment general strike, Nepal's third shutdown in sum of two units weeks, closed the Nepalese capital Kathmandu and a business and industrial cities in the southeast of the kingdom Tuesday.

Warring Maoist rebels called the strike to declaration the allegedly ''cold-blooded murder'' of their comrades at government security forces in the first week of this month

The Royal Nepalese Army has argued the rebels were killed in a firefight at Bhimad, along the border of the Bara and Parsa districts, moreover Nepalese rights groups have demanded an inquiry into the deaths

The strike Tuesday confine down schools and shops and disrupted public transportation in 16 of the country's 75 districts, including Kathmandu.

on the contrary government offices remained open.

Authorities expanded extra security forces in towns and cities across the affected districts to obviate violence.

Tuesday's was the other shutdown of the capital in five days.

Last Thursday, the rebels, fighting an armed insurgency in the political division had staged a strike to testify ''army atrocities.''

in succession Feb. 2, Nepalese political parties called a general strike to declare police intervention in antimonarchy protests

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