US embassy cable - 03KATHMANDU1874

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 KATHMANDU 001874 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR SA/INS AND DS/IP/NEA 
STATE ALSO PLEASE PASS USAID/DCHA/OFDA 
STATE ALSO PLEASE PASS PEACE CORPS HQ 
USAID FOR ANE/AA GORDON WEST AND JIM BEVER 
MANILA FOR USAID/DCHA/OFDA 
LONDON FOR POL/GURNEY 
TREASURY FOR GENERAL COUNSEL/DAUFHAUSER AND DAS JZARATE 
TREASURY ALSO FOR OFAC/RNEWCOMB AND TASK FORCE ON TERRORIST 
FINANCING 
JUSTICE FOR OFFICE OF THE DEPUTY ATTORNEY GENERAL/DLAUFMAN 
NSC FOR MILLARD 
SECDEF FOR OSD/ISA LILIENFELD 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PINS, PTER, CASC, PGOV, NP 
SUBJECT: UPDATE ON NEPAL'S MAOIST INSURGENCY, SEPTEMBER 20- 
26 
 
REFERENCE: KATHMANDU 1849 
 
SUMMARY 
------- 
 
1. According to local press accounts fifty-three Maoists, 
nine policemen and two Royal Nepal Army (RNA) soldiers died 
in clashes this week, along with two civilians.  Two other 
policemen were also assassinated by Maoists.  Senior 
officials from the Royal Nepal Army (RNA) declared that the 
Maoists are no match for the RNA's strength.  Maoist rebels 
destroyed five police posts, and caused damage to several 
repeater towers, resulting in loss of electricity and phone 
services.  The insurgents maintained their bombing campaign, 
targeting multiple government buildings throughout Nepal. 
Maoists reportedly murdered seventeen civilians in separate 
incidents.  End Summary. 
 
ASSASSINATIONS AND CLASHES CLAIM MORE LIVES 
------------------------------------------- 
 
2.  Maoist rebels continued their guerilla tactics of 
individual assassinations, with the shooting death of two 
policemen in broad daylight. On September 25, a policeman 
guarding the appellate court in Biratnagar died after two 
insurgents on a motorcycle drove by and shot him.  In the 
early morning of September 23, rebels assassinated an 
assistant sub-inspector in Kathmandu as he was washing his 
motorcycle.  He was shot four times. 
 
3.  According to local press reports, clashes between 
security forces and Maoists throughout Nepal again resulted 
in high casualties.  Eight Maoists and one Royal Nepal Army 
(RNA) soldier were killed in separate clashes September 24- 
25 in the western regions of Kailali and Dadeldhura, and in 
the central district of Rupandehi.   Fighting on September 
21-22 left thirteen Maoists dead in the eastern districts of 
Morang, Udayapur and Panchthar, while four rebels were 
killed in clashes in the western regions of Banke and 
neighboring Bardiya.  On September 21 rebels also killed an 
officer with the Armed Police Force (APF) in Dang District, 
a Maoist stronghold, whom they had abducted the previous 
day.  Another policeman was killed in the central district 
of Syangja.  Twenty-eight Maoists and six security personnel 
were killed in separate incidents between September 19-20. 
Seventeen of the Maoist casualties took place once again in 
the eastern district of Panchthar.  The far-western district 
of Accham was the site of a confrontation on September 20 
that killed ten Maoists.  One rebel was killed in Nuwakot, 
and two police officers were killed in Dhading after a 
Maoist laid landmine exploded.  Two officers also were 
killed in Kapilvastu.  An APF officer responding to a Maoist 
bomb plot near a bridge was killed in Dhading on September 
19 following a clash that ensued after his arrival at the 
scene. Another APF officer was also killed in Bajhang 
District, in the northwest. 
 
4.  On September 20, two civilians were killed after getting 
caught in a Maoist ambush meant for patrolling security 
forces in Dhankuta, and two police and a seven-year-old 
child caught in the crossfire, suffered injuries during a 
confrontation with rebels in the western district of 
Surkhet. 
 
5.  On September 23, senior officials from the Royal Nepal 
Army (RNA) declared that the Maoists are facing a shortage 
of ammunition, and alleged that a decline in the insurgents' 
strength had forced them to resort to individual 
assassinations.  Lt. Colonel Kaji Bahadur Khatri, speaking 
to reporters from the Western Division Headquarters, said 
the Maoist "army" is inadequate and unable to "give a good 
fight."  Khatri alleged that the insurgents are using small- 
scale violence and assassinations of security personnel in 
an attempt to damage the morale of the army, but defiantly 
declared that RNA soldiers are well equipped and confident. 
 
BOMB BLASTS CONTINUE 
-------------------- 
 
6.  On September 24, bombs blasted through an Industrial 
Development Committee building in the central district of 
Gulmi, causing over USD 13,ooo in damages, and two Village 
Development Committee (VDC) offices were destroyed by 
Maoists in Kapilvastu District.  Maoist planted bombs 
damaged a VDC member's house on September 22 in Khotang 
District, in the east, and a District Education office in 
the far western district of Banke.  Government buildings 
were once again targeted on September 20 in the districts of 
Dhading and Ilam, where Maoists detonated bombs at a VDC 
office and a finance office, and also destroyed the house of 
a police officer in Nuwakot District.  On September 18, 
Maoists detonated bombs in the districts of Darchula and 
Gulmi, in the far west and central regions of Nepal 
respectively, and in the eastern districts of Panchthar and 
Mohattari.  The rebels targeted VDC, government and office 
buildings, including the ancestral house of a former 
education Minister. 
 
7.  Five police posts throughout Nepal were torched and 
destroyed by rebels, including an attack on a police post at 
Khudunabari Bhutanese Refuge Camp in the southeast (reftel) 
which killed one policeman on September 21.  Police posts in 
Saptari, and the south central districts of Kapilvastu and 
neighboring Rupandehi were also destroyed. 
 
CIVILIANS SUFFER AMID INSURGENCY 
-------------------------------- 
 
8.  The dead body of a Nepali Congress committee member, who 
had been abducted by Maoists on September 24, was found in 
Morang District on September 25.  On September 23, a VDC 
chairman reportedly was killed by Maoists in Jhapa District, 
and on that same day, rebels shot a Nepali Congress (NC) 
secretary in the eastern district of Kavre.  A Rastriya 
 
SIPDIS 
Prajatantra Party (RPP) student leader reportedly was 
murdered by Maoists in Chitwan on September 21.  On 
September 22, five civilians were killed by Maoists in 
separate incidents in Kanchanpur, Arghakhanci, Morang and 
Dhanusha District, including two NC workers.  Rebels 
reportedly killed three civilians in the western district of 
Dang on September 21, and severely injured another in a 
separate incident in the eastern district of Dhankuta. 
 
9.  On September 20, also in Dang, a member of the Communist 
Party of Nepal-United Marxist Leninist (CPN-UML) reportedly 
was allegedly murdered by Maoists.  Party members of the CPN- 
UML have condemned their cadre's murder by the Maoists as 
part of a "hatred game," and called on the insurgents to 
stop their brutal violence.  Maoists reportedly also killed 
a husband and wife in Dhanusha District on September 20 
because they were supporters of the RPP.  In the eastern 
district of Sunsari, security forces said Maoists were 
responsible for the decapitation of a civilian on September 
20, and reportedly also killed a local leader that same day 
in his home in Surkhet District. 
 
10.  On September 22, a former VDC chairman reportedly was 
abducted in Dhading District by Maoists and beaten severely 
with an iron rod.  The rebels then ordered him to leave the 
village.  On September 17, Maoist rebels reportedly also 
abducted a teacher in northeastern district of 
Sindhupalchowk.  According to press reports, families of 
security personnel in Kanchanpur are being forced out of 
their homes by Maoists.  The insurgents reportedly have 
threatened to kill them if they return to the village. 
Maoists in Ramechhap have also locked up the homes of 
seventeen families throughout the district, accusing them of 
being informants for the security forces.  Rebels in the 
western district of Rolpa reportedly also have banned all 
vehicular traffic, depriving the local villagers of public 
and private transportation, and prohibiting delivery of 
food. 
 
ATTACKS ON INFRASTRUCTURE 
------------------------- 
 
11.  The Maoist cadres' trail of destruction continued with 
the September 22 bombing of a power supply building in the 
far western district of Accham, and the demolition of a 
repeater tower in neighboring Bajura District, causing loss 
of telephone service in the region.  On that same day, 
Maoists in Nuwakot District, north of Kathmandu, set fire to 
equipment being used to clear landslides in the area.  On 
September 20, in the city of Hetauda, south of Kathmandu, 
insurgents blew up two mobile phone towers, and a repeater 
tower servicing over 400 telephone lines, was destroyed by 
the insurgents on September 18 in Lamjung District.  A group 
of Maoists attacked the same repeater tower two years ago. 
According to the Chief of Nepal Telecommunication 
Corporation (NCC), the tower has been "damaged beyond 
repair," and a new repeater would not be installed until 
"peace is restored."  Also on that day, a group of 
insurgents detonated a bomb at an airport in the western 
district of Rukum. 
 
MALINOWSKI