Kathmandu: Close on the heels of a unilateral nine-day truce announced by Maoists in Nepal, security forces gunned down 18 rebels, who in turn killed three security people and two civilians during the latest clashes in various parts of the Kingdom.

Twelve Maoist militants were killed on September 27 in a clash with security forces at Chhitapokhari in Khotang district of eastern Nepal, the Radio Nepal said quoting Defence Ministry sources. The Maoists were killed when the police patrol team retaliated to an attack by the rebels.

The security forces also recovered socket bombs, pipe bombs and a large amount of logistic materials from the site of the clash, it said.

Similarly, security forces killed four others in an encounter in the Dhading and Panchthar districts respectively and one insurgent each was killed in Nuwakot and Ramechhap districts, the radio added.

In Baseri area of Dhading district the rebels retaliated by killing a security person, it said.

In another incident, two policemen and a local woman were killed when a group of Maoists randomly opened fire at the policemen on duty at a vehicle check-post at Jaljale in Udayapur district on September 27, the radio said.

Meanwhile, an elderly woman was killed when the Maoists engineered serials bomb blasts in a number of government buildings, including the Land Revenue Office and Nepal Telecommunication Corporation's transmission tower, in Janakpur municipality in Dhanusha district on September 26 night, damaging property worth millions of rupees, 'The Kathmandu Post' reported.

PTI