Nepalese Maoist guerrillas attacked a police station in the southern Nepalese city of Hetuada Sunday, a radio report said. The radio station, quoting its correspondent in Hetuada, said the attack took place around midday Sunday and that details of damage and casualties were not immediately available. The police in the Nepalese capital confirmed the attack in Hetauda, about 90 kilometres south of the capital, but said they had no details. The radio said around 32 Maoists came on motorcycles and two pickup trucks and stormed the police station. Kantipur FM radio said a gun battle between security forces and Maoists followed the attack. The radio quoted the chief officer of Makwanpur district, where Hetuada is located, as saying, "Additional troops have been sent to repel the Maoist attack." He was also quoted as saying that he had no details about fatalities or damage in the attack. The attack on the Hetuada police station came the day after a similar attack at a police station in the Kathmandu Valley in which five policemen were killed. It is thought that the Maoists are stepping up their attacks ahead of the ninth anniversary of the launch of their "people's war" in February. The Maoist war, aimed at setting up a communist republic in Nepal, has cost the country about 11,000 lives.
