Kathmandu, Aug 27: Maoist rebels today declared they were breaking a 7-month-old cease-fire with Nepal's government and withdrawing from peace talks aimed at ending seven years of insurgency. In a statement, the rebels' leader, Prachanda, said they had ended the cease-fire agreement reached with the government in January. Since declaring the cease-fire, the rebels and government have held three rounds of peace talks. The last one held last week ended in a deadlock. The insurgents, who say they are inspired by Chinese communist revolutionary leader Mao Zedong, began fighting in 1996 to abolish Nepal's constitutional monarchy and set up a socialist state.
More than 7,000 people have been killed since then.
The rebels declared a cease-fire in January and agreed to peace talks after the government stopped calling them terrorists, rescinded bounties on their leaders and canceled a notice to Interpol seeking their arrest.
Bureau Report