US embassy cable - 02KATHMANDU1885

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 KATHMANDU 001885 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE TO SA/INS 
STATE ALSO PASS USAID/DCHA/OFDA 
LONDON FOR POL - RIEDEL 
MANILA FOR USAID/DCHA/OFDA 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PTER, PINS, NP, Maoist Insurgency 
SUBJECT: NEPAL:  MAOIST ATROCITIES ESCALATE 
 
REF: A. (A) KATHMANDU 1832 
 
     B. (B) KATHMANDU 1791 
     C. (C) KATHMANDU 1741 
     D. (D) KATHMANDU 1640 AND PREVIOUS 
 
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CIVILIANS KILLED 
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1.  This message updates reporting on Maoist attacks on 
civilian targets (Ref D) during the month of September.  In 
addition to their demolition of a helicopter on a 
humanitarian mission and the kidnapping of schoolchildren 
reported Ref A and the series of bomb explosions in Kathmandu 
before the September 16 general strike (Ref B), the 
insurgents increased their attacks on civilians, schools, and 
infrastructure throughout the reporting period. 
 
2.  The Maoists killed 55 civilians during the month of 
September--the highest civilian death toll in any month in 
2002.  At least 16 of those killed were identified as 
local-level party workers of the ruling Nepali Congress; five 
were members of the Communist Party of Nepal - United Marxist 
Leninist (UML), the largest Opposition party; two were 
teachers; and one a retired soldier.  During the September 8 
attack on district headquarters in Arghakhanchi (Ref C), six 
civilians were killed.  Another two children were killed 
three days later after playing with an unexploded grenade 
left behind in the attack. 
 
3.  On September 2 the Maoists killed a 72-year-old farmer in 
eastern Ramechhap District.  On September 8 in Rautahat 
District along Nepal's southeast border with India, Shesh 
Abdulla, a former head of the local Village Development 
Council, was hacked to death.  On September 14, the 
insurgents beheaded Lekhnath Chapagain in eastern Ilam 
District.  On September 16, during the Maosits' general 
strike, or "bandh," a woman was killed by a bomb in Kaski 
District in the central region of the country.  The following 
day in Kavre District, about 30 km southeast of Kathmandu, 
the driver of a milk truck was killed in a Maoist ambush.  On 
September 20 in southeastern Udayapur District insurgents, 
angry that Devaki Katuwal had said she was unable to make 
dinner for them, stabbed the 80-year-old woman to death.  On 
September 21 in southwestern Banke District Sajat Ali Sheikh 
and Tribeni Prasad Gupta were beaten to death for being 
alleged police informants.  On September 25 the mutiliated 
body of Jayaram Shrestha, an Opposition party youth leader, 
was found in the jungle in Dhading, the district adjoining 
Kathmandu to the northwest, after he was abducted by Maoists. 
 Local people had reported finding notices announcing a 
Maoist death sentence on Shrestha posted at various locations 
in the town. 
 
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ATTACKS ON INFRASTRUCTURE, 
LOCAL GOVERNMENT 
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4.  On September 2 Maoists destroyed part of a small 
hydroelectricity project in Panauti, Kavre District.  The 
project is no longer producing electricity.  On September 6 
the insurgents destroyed 2 local government buildings in 
Tehrathum District, and nine Village Development Council 
(VDC) buildings in Sindhupalchowk District the following day. 
 On September 9 the insurgents destroyed the District 
Forestry Offices in Syangja and Pyuthan. On September 14 
Maoists attacked an electricity substation in Rautahat 
District, cutting off electric power to more than 125,000 
people. 
 
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TROUBLE FOR SCHOOLS 
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5.  On September 2 the insurgents torched five buses owned by 
a private elementary school in southern Chitwan District. 
The buses were empty at the time.  A bomb exploded at a 
secondary school in Syangja District the same day.  No one 
was injured.  The local press reported September 24 that 11 
schools in western Surkhet District had to close after their 
teachers were forced to attend a Maoist meeting.  Meanwhile, 
in Syangja District, Maoists set fire to a private school and 
threatened two others, forcing the indefinite closure of all 
three.  On September 24 the Maoist-affiliated All Nepal 
National Independent Student Union (Revolutionary) set off an 
early-morning bomb at a private school in Kathmandu about 4 
km from the Embassy, damaging the school office and four 
buses.  No one was injured in the attack. 
HALE