Maoists release govt officials

Maoist released seven government officials including the Local Development Officer (LDO) of Ilam, Pashupati Nath Acharya, whom they had abducted Saturday morning.

Reports coming in say the rebels freed them from Dhanbari area, Ilam district, this morning. LDO Acharya telephoned his family in Kathmandu immediately after the release, informing that he and his friends were safe.

The government authorities and the Maoists are yet to confirm the release of the abducted officials.

A group of armed Maoists had whisked them away from Kolbung area along the Mechi Highway at around 8:00 a.m. Saturday when they were travelling to Biratnagar by a microbus. Reports said the rebels abducted the officials as they defied their Mechi-Koshi `banda’ (shutdown strike).

Other abducted civil servants were Planning Officer at the Ilam District Development Committee Narayan Koirala, chief of the District Technical Office (DTO) Padam Prasad Pokhrel, overseer at the DTO Sravan Kumar Chaudhary, overseer at the Nepal Electricity Authority’s Ilam branch Yogendra Thakur, Ilam Municipality overseer Deepak Guragain and Secretary of Barbote VDC of Ilam Dik Prasad Dahal. nepalnews.com by/mbk July 31 05

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