Violence Surges Following Collapse of Cease-Fire With Maoists. In the two months since the collapse of a cease-fire agreement, more than 1,100 people, many of them noncombatants, have died in renewed fighting between Maoist rebels and U.S.-backed government forces struggling to maintain control of this picturesque mountain kingdom, human rights monitors say. The surging violence, which has included several Maoist attacks even in this normally tranquil capital, has dimmed hopes for an immediate return to negotiations aimed at ending a seven-year civil war that both sides acknowledge cannot be won on the battlefield. In the short term, analysts say, both the Maoists and forces loyal to King Gyanendra, Nepal’s constitutional monarch, appear to be trying to enhance their bargaining power by inflicting as much pain as possible on the other side, with civilians frequently caught in the middle. Full Story
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