Nepal's government said today it had made inroads into Maoist rebel-controlled areas and that over 300 more rebels have surrendered amid reports their leader has been surrounded.
"Police and army security personnel have effectively launched their anti-Maoist campaign, striking secret training camps and meeting places the Nepalese authorities never thought existed," a defence ministry official said.
The official said fall in the number of ambushes by Maoists in recent days was a sign of the government campaign's success.
However, home ministry sources said Maoists threw a petrol bomb today at a government car carrying Science and Technology Minister Lal Shrestha and a school bus that was following it in Lalitpur on the outskirts of Kathmandu. No one was injured.
Several Nepali-language newspapers said the army surrounded the Maoists' top leader, Mr Pushpa Kamal Dahal, and his deputy in a rebel stronghold in northwestern Nepal.
No government officials would confirm the reports, citing state censorship on reporting the anti-Maoist campaign.
A home ministry spokesman said 308 people connected with the Maoists' self-declared people's government surrendered today to the government in the northeast and west.
Security forces also seized a "sizable amount" of medicine in Kathmandu they believe was destined for Maoist strongholds, a police source said.
AFP