Three suspected Maoist rebels killed

In Nepal, three suspected Maoist rebels have been killed in clashes with the police, in the eastern hill district of Okhaldhunga.

Authorities say the fighting followed an attack by rebels on a police patrol.

There are no reports of police casualties.

The BBC correspondent in Kathmandu says rebel violence has increased since the collapse of a peace initiative last month.

Both the government and the Maoist rebels have said they are still ready for talks to resolve the four year old insurgency, but our correspondent says mutual mistrust has blocked the dialogue. More than fifteen hundred people have died since the rebels launched a violent campaign in 1996 to replace the constitutional monarchy with a communist republic.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service