US talks security in Nepal

There have been a number of bombings in the capital

By Sushil Sharma BBC reporter in Kathmandu

A senior US State Department official is in Nepal for talks on how to help the kingdom put down an increasingly bloody Maoist rebellion.

Assistant Secretary of State for South Asia Christina Rocca held talks on Friday with senior officials, including Prime Minister Lokendra Bahadur Chand.

The army was deployed a year ago

Ms Rocca is the first senior American official to visit Nepal since US Secretary of State Colin Powell made an unprecedented trip earlier this year.

During his visit, Mr Powell promised $20m to help Nepal fight the rebels.

The pledge came after the Nepalese Government said the Maoists were terrorists and launched a military offensive to crush them.

There has, however, been an upsurge in Maoist violence, including a series of minor bomb blasts in the capital, Kathmandu, in recent months.

US embassy security

The rebels have killed two Nepali security guards at the US embassy in Kathmandu over the past year.

The authorities have given no details of Ms Rocca's talks, saying the visit is routine and there is no specific agenda.

But safety of the embassy staff is widely expected to figure in her meetings with senior embassy officials, before she leaves for Pakistan on the final leg of the two-nation regional tour.

The rebels have been fighting since 1996 to replace Nepal's monarchy with a communist republic.

About 7,000 people have been killed in the violence, the authorities say.

The rebels say the US is an imperialist power and accuse it of backing a reactionary regime.