About 2,000 anti-government guerrillas have been killed in clashes with the Nepali government security forces since the breakdown of cease-fire in August last year, a spokesman of the Royal Nepal Army said Wednesday.

"Meanwhile, at least 940 guerrillas have so far surrendered to the government security forces after the government announced conditional amnesty and rewards for weapons on Dec. 18, 2003," said army spokesman Colonel Dipak Gurung.

On the government side, 173 security forces personnel were killed in the fight against the guerrillas, the spokesman said.

The government security forces seized various kinds of weapons,ammunition and explosive materials from the guerrillas.

On Aug. 27 last year, the guerrillas unilaterally declared the breakdown of the cease-fire, which was announced by the guerrillasand the government respectively on Jan. 29, 2003.

The insurgency has claimed more than 10,000 lives since it began in the Himalayan kingdom in early 1996.

Source: Xinhua