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Five cops killed in Kathmandu mine blast

KATHMANDU: Five police officers were killed and two others seriously injured on Wednesday after stepping on a mine suspected of being set by Maoist guerrillas, police sources said.

"The incident took place when a police security team of seven was searching for Maoist insurgents in a remote area near Bhalayakhark village in Lamjung district 290 kilometres northwest of Kathmandu," a police source said.

Those killed included assistant sub-inspector Ram Bahadur Thapa and officers Chakra Bahadur Dangi, Ramchandra Dhakal, Man Bahadur Gurung and Ram Bahadur Lamgod.

Sergeant Padam Ranabhat and officer Hari Prasad Dawadi were airlifted to Katmandu for the treatment of grave injuries.

Meanwhile, a team of human Rights advocates accused police of an atrocity in killing nine people in the Accham district on January 14 and 15.

The nine included seven civilians and two Maoists, the group said at a press conference on Wednesday.

The accusation was made by the Human Rightist and Peace Society after four members visited Acchaam district, 288 kilometres west of Kathmandu, to investigate the killings.

"Of the nine killed in the police action, seven were villagers and only the other two were Maoist insurgents," said the group's president Krishna Pahadi.

The group said the police were carrying out atrocities and terrifying villagers in an attempt to suppress Maoist guerrillas in the country's far northwestern and farwestern districts. AFP