Police have killed nine Maoist rebels in the last week, in a crackdown after the death of a police commander by a rebel mine.

August 11; A senior police official was killed by a rebel mine, one other policeman was injured.

August 1; The Maoist rebels have rejected government calls for peace talks. The national police have 27,000 of their 40,000 men involved in fighting the rebels, and another 6,000 police are being recruited. The rebels see the Peruvian Shining Path movement (also Maoists) as a model for their operations.

July 22; The Maoist offensive grinds on, with 884 dead since the uprising began in February, 1996. The dead include 656 Maoists, 143 civilians and 75 police. In addition, 4,884 people have bee arrested, although only 1,546 were prosecuted (the rest were released.)

During the second week of July police and Maoist rebels clashed, leaving ten people dead (seven rebels, two civilians and one policeman.)