'Nine dead' in Nepal rebel attack

The army has been fighting the rebels for almost eight years

Nine people have been killed in an attack by Maoist rebels in western Nepal, according to a security official.

The official said more than 50 rebels attacked a police post at Susuwa, 200 kilometres (124 miles) west of the capital, Kathmandu.

Six policemen, one soldier, and two civilians were killed in the ensuing gun battle, he added.

It is not clear whether there were any casualties on the rebel side.

Correspondents say this is the third such incident in three days in western Nepal.

The Maoists want to replace the constitutional monarchy in Nepal with a republic, and have stepped up attacks since ending a ceasefire in August.

Eight thousand people are reported to have died in the eight-year-old insurgency.

Press 'being targeted'

Meanwhile, the international journalists' organisation Reporters Without Borders has urged the Nepalese Government to act to end violence against journalists in the country.

"We are very worried about the increasing attacks on media workers by both government and rebel forces which threaten the free flow of news," said the body's Secretary General, Robert Menard, in a letter to Prime Minister Surya Bahadur Thapa.

"Journalists are protected in wartime by the 1949 Fourth Geneva Convention, which considers them civilians, and the arbitrary arrest, killing and kidnapping of them are serious violations of international humanitarian law."

Reporters Without Borders says nine journalists are currently being detained or are listed as missing in Nepal.