Himalayan News Service

Dang, July 23:

Locals of Gotakuri village development committee are still terrified after the bloody clash between the between the security forces and the Maoists yesterday at Kamal Khola. Villagers were very frightened when they saw a group of Royal Nepalese Army personnel reach the spot this afternoon. “We were returning from a regular patrol when we heard the sound of firing and when we tried to take our positions, we were caught in an ambush,” an army man who had managed to escape from the Maoists’ attack said. Yesterday morning, some 500 Maoists launched an attack from all sides on a team of security personnel deployed for the security of a Nepal Telecom repeater tower at Rajkot of Gotakuri VDC.

The security team was returning from a patrol at Naryan Gaun of Gotakuri, he added, denying to disclose names of security personnel killed in the clash. The Maoists had captured cattle grazers and people who had gone in the nearby forest to collect fire-wood, Ram Bahadur Khadka, 69, one of the captives from Naraynpur said. "We were very frightened after hearing gunfire but anyhow managed to reach our homes," said Dambar Kumari Khadka, who was out of home when the firing occured. "Thank God, I could return home safely," Prakash Shrestha, a local resident said. The police personnel killed in the incident are head-constable Man Bahadur Gurung of Kanchanpur district, constables Uttam Rana and Ram Mahato of Nawalparashi district while constable Khum Bahadur Gaha of Palpa has been injured.