Nepalese minister's house attacked

The Nepalese Finance Minister, Ram Sharan Mahat, says his country house has been destroyed by Maoist rebels.

Speaking to the BBC, Mr Mahat said a large group of rebels set fire to his house in Nuwakot district north of the capital, gutting it completely.

Mr Mahat said nobody was hurt in the fire.

The attack came a day after rebels threw petrol bombs on the Kathmandu house of Mr Mahat's brother, Prakash Sharan Mahat, who is an adviser to the Nepalese Prime Minister, Sher Bahadur Deuba.

Maoist rebels have been fighting for a one-party communist republic in Nepal and the abolition of the monarchy for more than six years.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service