Nepal's isolated Maoists have been accused of attacking a top leader of the CPN-UML, which is set to push the former rebels out of power just nine months after the ultra left party formed the first post-royal government in the country.
The CPN-UML general secretary Ishwor Pokharel and two politburo members of the party, Rabindra Shrestha and Pashupati Chaulagai, were attacked by Maoist cadres in Ramechhap district's Manthali town, the party said on Monday.
The Maoists attacked our leaders with the intention to kill them, but fortunately they escaped due to timely action by the police, said Yuvraj Gyawali, secretary of the CPN-UML's central office.
Some 20-25 Maoist cadres attacked them with boulders and rocks from top of a hill on Sunday while they were returning to the capital after attending a party function, the party said in a statement.
The Maoists, who waged a decade-long insurgency, joined mainstream politics following a 2006 peace deal with the interim government led by G P Koirala and formed a coalition after the CPN-Maoist emerged as the largest party in the constituent assembly polls last year.
We had thought that the Maoists have abandoned the path of violence. It has been proved wrong, said Pokharel.
Though the vehicle carrying CPN-UML leaders was damaged in the attack, no one was injured.
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