Maoist rebels in Nepal have threatened to blockade Kathmandu and prevent food and other supplies reaching the hill-ringed capital unless the government gives in to its demands.
In their first-ever call for a blockade of the capital, Maoist leaders also said vehicles should stay off roads leading to Kathmandu from August 18th.
Maoist rebels
Rebels demanded the release of detained guerrillas, an investigation into alleged killings of Maoist activists and information about thousands of their missing comrades.
"We urge the blockade of all entry points to Kathmandu," the Maoists said in a statement issued last night. "Anyone violating the call will themselves be responsible for the consequence arising from such defiance."
The Maoists control large swathes of the countryside in the Himalayan nation and have had enough influence in the capital to enforce transport strikes there in the past.
Since walking out of peace talks last August they have sponsored a series of largely effective blockades of provincial towns and villages, attacking cars, buses and trucks that defied their orders.
The Maoists have been fighting since 1996 to abolish the monarchy and set up a communist republic in the world's only Hindu kingdom.
The revolt has claimed more than 10,000 lives, scared away investors and tourists and threatened the stability of multi-party democracy set up in 1990.
Separately, Deputy Prime Minister Bharat Mohan Adhikari said the government was keen to revive peace talks that collapsed in 2001 and 2003 to try to end the rebellion.