Nepal`s Maoist rebels blew up a newly built airport control tower and attacked an army barracks on Sunday night as part of a new and ferocious anti-government offensive, a police source said on Monday.
The source said a group of 600 armed Maoists attacked and blew up the Phaplu Airport tower in Salleri -- the district headquarters of Solukhumbu about 280 km northeast of the capital -- and later attacked a local army barracks.

Police said a fierce exchange of fire continued until early Monday morning, while a highly placed official said the army had been sent to Salleri to reinforce security presonnel. "Since all telephone communications have been disrupted, we are not in a postition to say exactly the number of casualties on either the security or the Maoist side," home ministry spokesman Gopendra Bahadur Pandey said.
Minister for tourism and culture Bal Bahadur K C who represents the Solukhumbu district, has gone to the area in an army helicopter to take stock of the situation. Unofficial but reliable sources said government establishments including the chief district officer`s office had been blown up by the Maoists and several people from both sides had been killed in the exchange of fire.
The sources said the rebels had first attacked the airport security post, the district officer`s office building and had later turned to the army camp.
Meanwhile, the Nepali Congress party is holding an emergency meeting of its Central Working Committee to access the situation before making a decision about army mobilization in the Maoist affected areas. Soon after the committee meeting, the cabinet is expected to convene and declare the Maoists terrorists, impose a state of emergency and mobilise military units, a highly placed cabinet source said on condition of anonymity.
At least 49 people, mostly security personnel, have been killed in the latest Maoist violence which was relaunched Friday after the rebels abandoned a four-month-old truce enforced in July.
Bureau Report