Six people were killed when communist guerrillas attacked a group of cars escorting the chief justice of Nepal.
Chief Justice Keshav Prasad Upadhaya escaped unhurt from the attack which killed five policemen and a court official accompanying Upadhaya on a tour. Two policemen and another court official were injured.
The group was traveling in five cars and was attacked at a narrow mountainous road partly blocked by a landslide near Birendranagar, 310 miles west Katmandu.
The guerrillas had laid booby traps on the road and opened fire on the cars when they stopped, police said.
The assault was the first time Maoist rebels have targeted officials of the Supreme Court. Police suspect it was in retaliation for a decision to form a special court to prosecute Maoist suspects.
More than 1,500 people have died since the rebels, who model themselves after Peru's Shining Path guerrillas, began fighting the government in 1996.
They say they are fighting to end Nepal's constitutional monarchy and to dismantle the feudal structure that remains in parts of the country.
The rebels also allege police repression and charge that police have secretly arrested and killed hundreds of guerrillas.