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It was 10.pm on the
night of March 21st. An estimated 5,000 guerrillas of the PLA launched
simultaneous attacks on Beni Bazaar, the district headquarters of Myagdi in
western Nepal. Situated near the sangam of two rivers the attack was well
coordinated and threw the RNA (Royal Nepal Army) into panic flight. 1,300 troops
were stationed here, of which 300 were present for the specific task of
road-building. This district Headquarter is merely 150kms away from the Rolpa
Base Area.
The Maoist guerrillas
simultaneously attacked the compound, housing the main offices of the
administration, guarded by 160 troops. The offices of the District Police, the
District Administration, and District Development were taken over, the officials
arrested and then the offices were blown to pieces. The military personnel fled
and an unknown number were killed and injured.
But the main attack
took place on the military barracks which housed the bulk of the troops. Within
two hours of fighting four of the five barracks fell to the guerrillas, two
banks were seized and the rest of the district Hqs also came under Maoist
control. The jail was taken over and the 31 prisoners released. But the battle
continued for another 12 hours for the 5th and main barrack which had the bulk
of the weaponry and cash of the banks (bank cash in Nepal is no longer stored in
its own vaults but in Army barracks removing only what is needed in the
day-time). This however did not fall to the guerrillas. A pro-Maoist website
claimed late Sunday evening, that the Maoists have killed 150 government troops
seizing 137 modern weapons from them in the Beni Bazaar battle during
Saturday-Sunday. The statement also claimed that Maoists have seized a two-inch
mortar, three LMGs, 15 "Insas", one M-16, eight SMGs, thirty-five SLRs, seventy
.303 rifles, fifteen other pistols and 47,000 rounds of bullets from the
security forces.
The Maoists also
captured 38 officials including the Deputy Superintendent of Police and Chief
District Officer, Sagar Mani Parajuli. Two were later released to human rights
personnel when they were injured by RNA helicopter gunfire. The rest are still
reported to be in the custody of the Maoists. To hide its massive losses the
government has put out gigantic lies that they have killed 500 Maoists. But, in
a statement issued late Sunday evening (March 21), Com. Prachanda has claimed
that only about 46 Maoists were martyred in the Beni Bazaar clashes including
their brigade vice commander. Through the entire operation, that stared at 10 pm
and went on till next day noon, no re-enforcements were sent, even though at
merely half-an-hours distance (by vehicle) the two district hqs of Parbat and
Baglung are located with each having 1,000 military troops. The two bridges
across the river were blown up and the approach roads to Beni were blockaded. It
was only after the operation was over that helicopters arrived and blindly
bombed nearby villages killing 26 villagers. This, of course is continuing and
the losses may now be higher. It is also reported that in their frenzy the RNA
are taking out Maoist prisoners from jail and bringing them to this area and
killing them to hike up their body-count.
This major attack
came in the wake of a mass movement against the King and for the scrapping of
the monarchy, in which the opposition parties also participated. On 12th March
thousands took part in rallies against the mounting protests against the king.
Simultaneously there have been a step-up of military attacks by the PLA. The
battle of Beni is the second major attack by Maoists on district headquarters in
two weeks. Earlier, the Maoists had attacked Bhojpur district headquarters in
the East of Nepal that left at least 32 security personnel dead, and the
communication tower was blown up.
Also, on the day of
the battle of Beni a group of Maoists exploded a powerful bomb at Mehauli
airport’s control tower in Chitwan, destroyed the building. Chief of Mehauli
airport in Bharatpur said equipment worth Rs. 25 million was destroyed in the
blast overnight. Reports of skirmishes have also been reported from neighboring
districts. Fighting has also been reported from Naralakuti of Baglung district.
Meanwhile, com.
Prachanda stated that "the centralized and decentralized physical assaults
will continue unless progressive political way out is achieved".
March 26, 2004
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