Compiled by Outside Online

November 26, 2001 The king of Nepal declared a state of emergency today after a new series of violent clashes between Maoist rebels and government forces left at least 300 dead and dozens more injured.

The rebels broke a four-month-old cease-fire by attacking Nepal army positions in Ghorai, Salleri and Solukhumbu over the weekend, various news agencies reported.

The bloodiest fighting took place in Salleri, where NepalNews.com reports at least 200 rebels were killed and at least 60 others injured. At least 76 soldiers and police also were killed, according to the Associated Press. The AP also reported fighting in Solukhumbu, where rebel forces killed 28 police officers, five soldiers, and the chief district officer. In Ghorai, rebel attacks killed 14 soldiers and injured more 30 others, NepalNews.com reported.

King Gyanendra's declaration allows the Nepal government to use the army to hunt down Maoist rebels for the first time.

The renewed fighting comes after both sides agreed to a temporary cease-fire on July 23, brokered by then-newly appointed prime minister Shere Bahadur Deuba. Deuba came into office on a promise to solve the Maoist problem through dialogue.

In May, Outside contributing editor Patrick Symmes traveled deep into the rebel-held Rolpa district, attending a rally of some 1,000 Maoists (see "The Last Days of the Mountain Kingdom," Outside magazine, September 2000).

The Maoist Nepal Communist Party withdrew from politics in 1996 and began a series of guerilla raids in the Nepal countryside in hopes of overthrowing the Nepal government. Attacks on police posts have killed hundreds of security officers, mostly in the rural districts of Kalikot, Jajarkot, Rukum, Rolpa, Salyan, and Gurkha. No tourists have been killed or injured, though the U.S. State Department advises against travelling in those six western districts.

The Maoists fashion themselves after Peru's Shining Path guerillas. They say they are outraged by the unequal treatment of women, poor people, and members of low castes. They fight for a worldwide communist revolution.