Nepal's army clashed with Maoist rebels in fierce battles, with unconfirmed reports that up to 70 guerrillas had been killed, newspapers said today.
Reports said soldiers killed the guerrillas during an attack in the western Salyan area, bordering the district of Dang, where the Maoists staged their worst-ever attacks last week after breaking a four-month truce.
The Rising Nepaland Gorkhapatradailies said officials had not yet confirmed the casualties. A defence official in Kathmandu told Reutershe was yet to receive information from the area.
The government, which imposed a state of emergency in Nepal on Monday after the Maoists staged attacks on army and government installations, has also ordered dusk-to-dawn curfews in areas where rebels are active such as Dang and Salyan.
The army - deployed for the first time since the rebellion broke out in 1996 - opened fire at a bus that broke the curfew in the rebel stronghold of Syangja late last night, state radio said. It said there were no injuries.
Rebels also tried to storm a telecommunication tower in Syangja last night but they were repelled, a local officer told Reuters. Another attempt to bomb a government office in Udaypur was also foiled.
Nepali officials have said the attack against the Maoists - entrenched in thickly forested mountains in the west and east of the country - will be long and difficult.