At least 66 Maoist rebels and 10 government troopers were killed in an overnight clash in Nepal's far-western Pandon village, the bloodiest incident in the Himalayan kingdom in months, an army officer said on Sunday. "The clashes began Saturday night and continued until Sunday morning at Pandon village in Kailali district," the officer said on condition of anonymity. "The bodies of 16 rebels were found from the clash site and 50 others were found 50 metres away," he said.
"In the clashes, 10 security personnel were also killed while 16 others were injured."
The number of fatalities could not immediately be verified by independent sources.
But another officer, Colonel Ramsharan Karki, who is in charge of the area where the clash broke out, told AFP by telephone that "between 60 and 70 bodies (of the Maoists) are lying scattered around Pandon village."
"We have not yet decided whether we should collect the bodies of the rebels or to continue our operation against them," he said.
The injured troopers were flown to Kathmandu for treatment.
The clash is the biggest since the ending on October 28 of a nine-day temporary truce between Maoist and government forces to allow people to celebrate the Hindu festival of Dashain in peace.
The rebels launched their struggle in 1996 to overthrow the monarchy and feudal caste-ridden system, and to turn the Himalayan country of 26 million, one of the world's 10 poorest nations, into a communist "People's Republic."