A group of anti-government guerrillas kidnapped over 40 students and 14 teachers from two schools on the outskirts of the Kathmandu Valley Sunday afternoon,The Himalayan Times newspaper reported Monday.

The armed guerrillas rounded up the teachers and some students belonging to grades four and five from the Pancha Kanya Primary School and the Sri Krishna Secondary School in Chaimale village, about 22 km from the heart of Kathmandu city, the independent English daily quoted Deepak Ranjeet, an officer of the Valley Police, as saying.

The 28-strong guerrillas in combat dress took the students and teachers to an unidentified place in Makwanpur district, some 50 km south of Kathmandu, and claimed all the abductees will be sent back three days later "after training," Ranjeet said.

The guerrillas also planted two pressure cooker bombs in Chaimale village and threatened the villagers they will use the villagers' kin as human shields if the villagers ask for the government security forces' assistance, he added.

The anti-government guerrillas have intensified their assassination and abduction activities in Nepal's major cities in recent days. Nearly 10,000 Nepalese people have lost their lives since the anti-government insurgency broke out in the Himalayan kingdom in early 1996.

Source: Xinhua