Police sacked in Nepal

The authorities in Nepal have dismissed seven police inspectors for refusing to be posted to areas where rebel violence is at its worst.

Junior police have lost their jobs for this reason in the past, but this is the first time that disciplinary action has been brought against higher-ranking officers.

It follows a spate of attacks by Maoist insurgents on police stations in remote hill districts.

Reports say that more police have been killed than rebels in recent clashes between the two. The Maoists have been waging a four-year guerrilla campaign against the constitutional monarchy in Nepal, in which time more than fourteen-hundred people have been killed.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service