New mini-war in Nepal

Yesterday Nepal’s Maoists declared war on a hardline breakaway group called the Janatanrik Terai Liberation Front (or variations of that name). There has been a fued between the two groups for a while, but the JTLF have refused to be coaxed back into the Maoist fold and a few days ago a JTLF member was killed, allegedly by a Maoist soldier. The overall ‘cease fire’ between the Seven Party Alliance (gov’t) and the Maoists still stands. For now.
I’m off to check out the situation. Anyone interested in photos or a story, try your luck with Nepal’s mobile coverage on +977 9803192062, or else I’ll post an update if I return with anything interesting.

by Liam Cochrane at Tue Jul 18 10:34:50 UTC 2006 (ed. Mar 12 2008) Kathmandu, Nepal | Bookmark this | Digg this |

Good luck, stay safe and keep us informed.

by Vinh Dao | 11 Sep 2006 08:09 (ed. Sep 11 2006) | Orange County, California, United States |

Thanks mate,
Unfortunately, things were a bit tense down there and the main players from the breakaway were hiding in India. There were a few shootouts after I got back, but things seem to have calmed down for the moment. I did get a bit excited on my second last day in the district when my translator said there’d been a ‘kidnapping’. “Maoist or JTMM?,” I asked. “No – a bicycle. Should we go check it out?”
It was time to get back to Kathmandu.
Liam

by Liam Cochrane | 12 Sep 2006 06:09 | Kathmandu, Nepal |