Word: mangalsen
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Dates: during 2002-2002
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...request for reinforcements. Citing the presence of Maoist rebels and fears of an attack, the letters from Achham chief district officer Mohan Singh Khadka had piled up steadily over the winter. But not until early February did the army order the garrison in the western district town of Mangalsen reinforced with 19 extra soldiers, bringing the total to 58. "All 75 districts are constantly demanding more troops," says a senior Nepalese military official. "We get all these reports: 100 Maoists seen here, 100 seen there. And some member of Parliament is always demanding more protection. It's hard to know...
...This time Khadka was not crying wolf. Just after midnight on Feb. 17, an army of at least 2,000 of Nepal's Maoist guerrillas?up to half of the core group of armed rebels?fell on Mangalsen from the surrounding Himalayan hills. Their rockets cut through the walls of government offices and police stations, while mortars whistled overhead. After forcing residents into the open, the guerrillas blew buildings apart. They ransacked the bank, making off with $263,000, and freed 16 comrades from the Mangalsen jail while more troops overran Sanfebagar airport 20 km away...
...weapons and tactics used by the guerrillas in Mangalsen have fueled suspicions that they have received training and aid from India's equally brutal communist rebels. Most of the Maoists' political leaders, including the group's founder, former agricultural student Pushpa Kamal Dahal, known as Prachanda, have found shelter across the border in the northern jungles of Bihar State. The emboldened rebels are also striking isolated army posts to seize automatic weapons. The arms used with such devastation at Mangalsen?5-cm mortars, rocket-propelled grenades and Indian self-loading rifles, according to Kunda Dixit, editor of the Nepali Times...
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