Nepali troops killed at least 21 leftist rebels and lost 13 soldiers in overnight gunbattles across the Himalayan kingdom, officials said Sunday. 

An army official said at least 16 rebels and 10 soldiers were killed in a clash that erupted after more than 500 guerrillas fired from forested hills on a security patrol at Pandaun, 665 kilometers west of Kathmandu, igniting the 6-hour battle.

"We have recovered 16 bodies of rebels and we have lost 10 of our men," said army Colonel Ram Sharam Karki. He said many more guerrillas might have been killed. At least 18 soldiers were also wounded in the clash.

There was no immediate comment from the rebel side on the fighting, which started on Saturday evening.

"They were in columns like ants when they opened fire on our search mission," Karki said.

"Soldiers who are still in the area have seen more bodies of the rebels. We have not collected other bodies yet."

It was the single bloodiest clash since a temporary truce between the rebels and the government ended last month.

Pandaun in Kailali district in far western Nepal is a stronghold of rebels who have been fighting since 1996 to establish a republic in place of the constitutional monarchy in the world's only Hindu kingdom.

Three soldiers and five rebels died in separate clashes elsewhere, another official said.

(China Daily November 22, 2004)