Nepal names new prime minister

Mr Koirala stepped down after months of criticism

The ruling Nepali Congress has chosen former Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba as the new leader of the Himalayan kingdom.

Mr Deuba has said his top priority will be to end a six-year-old insurrection by Maoist rebels.

He was elected on Sunday with 72 votes to the 40 of his only rival, party general-secretary Sushil Koirala.

The vote came two days after the resignation of Girija Prasad Koirala, an uncle of the candidate Mr Deuba defeated.

Mr Deuba was prime minister once before

Mr Deuba, 55, was prime minister once before, in a shaky coalition government that ruled from 1995 to 1997.

A flexible leader who had built an unwieldy coalition, he was brought down in 1997 by a no-confidence vote in which two members of his own coalition failed to show up to support him.

In what is being seen as a goodwill gesture, Maoist rebels on Saturday released 15 of the policemen they have been holding hostage.

Another 59 policemen remain in captivity more than a week after being seized.

The outgoing prime minister, Mr Koirala, was subjected to intense pressure to step down for failing to prevent the royal massacre of 1 June, as well as failng to end the Maoist insurrection.

He was responsible for royal palace affairs when King Birendra and nine of his family member were shot dead in their palace, sparking a new period of instability in the Himalayan mountain kingdom.

More than 1,500 people have been killed since 1996, when Maoist guerrillas began its violent campaign to replace Nepal's constitutional monarchy with a communist republic.

Parallel administration

Five of the policemen freed on Saturday were released near Rolpa, a week after being captured.

Despite Saturday's releases, 59 policemen are still held hostage

Correspondents say that Rolpa, 350km (560 miles) west of the capital Kathmandu, is one of four districts in Nepal where the Maoists are well supported and where they run a parallel administration.

The policement were set free following mediation by a seven-member team of human rights activists.

One of them, Mathura Shestha, told AFP: "The remaining 59 policemen will be released gradually."

Ten more policemen, who had been seized in a separate incident were released in Dhobichaur, 120km (75 miles) east of the capital, according to police officials.

The BBC's Adam Mynott says the release of the policemen is not being directly linked to the selection of a new prime minister but is being seen as a goodwill gesture by the Maoists who had called on Mr Koirala to step down.