Nepal's Maoist rebels announced an indefinite ceasefire in the capital and surrounding valley on Monday in response to a call by political parties, days before their nation-wide strike.
The ceasefire in the hill-ringed Kathmandu valley was aimed at "creating an easy atmosphere for the people to participate in the peaceful protest movement" against the king, Maoist chief Prachanda said in a statement.
Nepal's seven main political parties have called a four-day nation-wide general strike from Thursday, to be followed by a series of protests and a big rally in Kathmandu on April 8, in a bid to pressure King Gyanendra to restore democracy.
The government has vowed to halt the protests, saying Maoist rebels could infiltrate rallies and create unrest.
The political parties feared that the government could use this as a reason to crack down on their demonstrations and had appealed to the guerrillas to announce a truce.
Prachanda said the rebel truce was aimed at exposing the claims of the royalist government.
Political parties welcomed the truce. "This is a good reply to the government that wanted to suppress our peaceful protests by saying the Maoists would infiltrate," said Kul Bahadur Gurung, a top leader of the Nepali Congress, the biggest political party.
But the royalist government was not convinced by the truce.
"This does not reduce the chances of Maoist infiltration in the protests," junior Information Minister Shris Shumsher Rana told Reuters. "This strategy is not going to work. We will still insist that the seven parties call off their strike."
Analysts said the palace and its critics now seemed headed for a showdown.
In January, the Maoists ended a four-month unilateral truce after the government refused to match it. Violence has since escalated and killed about 300 people across the poor nation.
SCHOOLGIRL KILLED:
In the latest violence, one schoolgirl was killed and two civilians wounded when a bomb left by the Maoists exploded in central Nepal, the army said.
The seven parties and the Maoists agreed in November on a loose deal to end the king's rule. They reaffirmed that pact this month and the rebels pledged to rejoin the mainstream.
Prachanda's announcement came hours after Nepali police fired tear gas shells to break up protests by students in the capital against the king, who seized power last year.
About three dozen students burned tyres on Kathmandu's roads and threw rocks at police in front of a college campus near the royal palace, witnesses said.
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