Suspected Maoists attack police post at Nepal refugee camp

A police officer was shot and killed on Sunday before suspected rebels blew up his outpost at Khudunabari camp in eastern Nepal. None of the 12,000 Bhutanese refugees was hurt. In a separate incident, a refugee was found dead near Beldangi camp in the same district.

By Fernando Del Mundo

22 September 2003

Beldangi refugee camp in Jhapa district, eastern Nepal, where a Bhutanese refugee was recently found dead in the nearby forest.

JHAPA, Nepal, Sept 22 (UNHCR) - Suspected Maoist rebels shot and killed a police officer before blowing up his outpost at a Bhutanese refugee camp in Nepal's eastern district of Jhapa on Sunday night, police told staff of the UN refugee agency.

There were no refugee casualties in the attack at Khudunabari camp, home to 12,000 of the 100,000 refugees who have been in Nepal since the early 1990s.

Police said the attackers gunned down the deputy police inspector, and told another policeman to leave before setting off explosives in the outpost.

In another incident on Sunday, a refugee was found dead in the forest outside Beldangi camp, also in Jhapa, where incidents blamed on Maoist rebels have been reported recently. Sunday's incidents were under police investigation.