Hundreds of Maoist rebels stormed a town in eastern Nepal and fought a six-hour gun battle with security forces, an official said this morning.
The rebels attacked a police station, district administration office, telecommunications tower and a jail at Chautara, about 100 kilometres east of Kathmandu, a senior government official told Reuters.
The violence came as authorities imposed a fresh curfew on the capital to thwart anti-monarchy protests.
In Kathmandu, an alliance of seven political parties vowed to hold more protests against the king today, the 19th consecutive day, and bring hundreds of thousands of people onto the streets for a major rally on Tuesday.
"We are preparing for a massive rally, to fill the entire ring road with people," Kashinath Adhikary, a senior official from the Communist Party of Nepal, the country's second biggest political party, said.
He said top party leaders would take to the streets on Tuesday for the first time since this round of protests began on April 6th.
Authorities clamped a fresh curfew on the capital from 11 am until 6 pm in a bid to thwart planned protests.
Although the 27 -kilometre ring road lies within the curfew zone, large stretches are in the hands of the protesters, with burning logs and tyres blocking access to security forces.
On Friday King Gyanendra, who seized power last year, offered to hand it over to the seven-party alliance, but his offer was rejected by the parties and has failed to quell the protests.
The country's main political parties entered a loose alliance with Maoist rebels to end royal rule last November.
The rebels, who control vast swathes of the countryside, have fought since 1996 to unseat the king and establish a communist republic in a conflict that has cost more than 13,000 lives.