| Nepal's Maoists take control of northwestern district
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KATHMANDU, Jun 25: Maoist rebels have taken control of a large area of northwestern Nepal which is home to some 200,000 people, a report said on Monday.
The Nepali-language daily newspaper Samacharpatra quoted local officials as saying the rebels had destroyed public facilities including health centres, post offices and bridges in the past months in the Karnali region.
"Taking advantage of the political turbulence in the country due to the rift in the ruling Nepali Congress, the Maoists went ahead and seized Jumla, Humla, Kalikote and Mugu districts of Karnali zone paralysing life there," Samacharpatra said.
As well as fighting the increasingly violent Maoist rebellion, Nepal is in turmoil politically with the Prime Minister's decision to call early elections leading to a split in the ruling Nepali Congress party.
"Because of the Maoist seizure of the district the chairman ... the secretary of the village development committee (VDC) and some local people were forced to quit the district and to take shelter in nearby districts," the newspaper quoted Dip Bahadur Shahi, the chairman of the District Development Committee (DDC) of Kalikote, as saying.
"The security forces have not been able to go beyond the periphery of the urban areas as all the 30 VDCs are controlled by the Maoists," he added.
Local authorities had informed Kathmandu that the rebels had taken control of these districts, but had no response, the newspaper said.
Military sources said the area was known to be a Maoist stronghold but denied that rebels were in complete control of the area.
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