Itahari, February 19:

Three persons, including two Maoists, were hurt in a clash between locals and the Maoists at Khanar over issue of distribution of citizenship certificates today.

“The clash occurred when the Maoists attacked the citizenship certificate distribution team in the building of Khanar VDC at 10 am,” Sunsari CPN-UML member Suwan Giri said, adding that the Maoists attacked the team, accusing it of giving citizenship certificates to non-Nepalis.

After that, locals chased the Maoists. However, the Maoists returned with arms and terrorised locals.

Meanwhile, Maoist district member Dipak claimed that they did not create any kind of trouble. “The incident occurred when Maoists who went to gather information about irregularities in the distribution of citizenship certificate were attacked.”