Life sentence threat for Nepal rebels

A wounded soldier is brought in after Maoist rebel attacks on police and army posts

KATHMANDU, Nepal -- Nepal has threatened life sentences to anyone found guilty of involvement in terrorism, as part of an effort to combat Maoist rebels who have launched attacks in the country.

"Those involved in acts of terrorism or those helping these people would be punished with life imprisonment," the government notice said Tuesday.

The announcement came a day after King Gyanendra declared a state of emergency, suspending civil rights and approving military action against the Maoist rebels, following their attack against government troops on Friday.

The incident resulted in the death of 150 people, almost half of them soldiers, policemen and government officials, and was considered as one of the worst outbreaks of violence since Maoist insurgents launched their bid to create a communist republic in 1996.

Previously, Nepal's military was limited to defending the country from foreign attack, and police were used to fight the rebels.

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The army will now be allowed to use force against anyone it suspects of having an involvement in acts of terrorism.

The emergency measures also restricted press freedom and suspended the right to information, property and privacy.

Police detained about a dozen journalists working for newspapers considered sympathetic to the Maoist rebels.

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Authorities also locked offices of the Jandishan Daily and Deshaboth, a monthly newspaper the government describes as the rebels' mouthpiece.

Suspension of rights

Under Tuesday's notice, anyone involved in extortion or threatening life and property can be arrested without a warrant and detained for 90 days.

No court order will be needed to search homes, offices and other property.

India has tightened security along its border with Nepal, the Press Trust of India news agency reported, for fear the rebels may try to cross into the bordering Indian state of West Bengal, where communists run the local government.

Special security forces were also deployed along the border, the news agency quoted a state government administrator as saying.

State of emergency

King Gyanendra declared the state of emergency after the rebels abandoned a four-month-old cease-fire on Friday, launching attacks across the country that left 150 dead on both sides.

One rebel attack Sunday night killed 34 soldiers, policemen and officials in Solukhumbu village, 200 kilometers (125 miles) northeast of Katmandu, Nepal's capital.

The government said its forces repulsed the attack and killed at least 60 rebels. Thousands of guerrillas, led by rebel commander Prachanda -- whose real name is Pushpa Kumar Dahal -- have waged the insurgency in remote mountainous areas.

The six-year campaign has killed nearly 2,000 people.

The rebels pattern themselves after Peru's Shining Path guerrillas and draw their name from China's revolutionary communist leader, Mao Tse-tung.