Eighteen people, 14 of them policemen, were killed and more than a dozen injured when a police van and a bus were ambushed by Maoist rebels Saturday in south-western Nepal, a police official said.
The van hit a landmine and was raked with automatic gunfire by rebels hiding in the jungle along the roadside near Kalakate locality in Bhaluwang district, the official told AFP.
A civilian bus travelling in the opposite direction inadvertently drove into the ambush and also came under attack by the rebels.
"A large number of Maoist rebels attacked the police van from Bhaluwang police training camp, which was on a routine patrol, by detonating a powerful bomb," said the official, who asked not to be named.
"The rebels then unleashed a volley of gunfire (on the police van and the bus) from the jungle using powerful long-range guns," he added.
Of the 16 injured, 12 were civilians and the rest were policemen.
After the attack, the rebels disappeared into the jungle before police reinforcements arrived.
The injured civilians were treated locally while the four seriously injured policemen were flown to Kathmandu for the treatment, the official said.