Nepal's security forces have destroyed a factory of the anti-government guerrillas to make socket bombs and other improvised explosive devices in southern Nepal.

The operation to dismantle the factory was carried out following a tip-off by the local residents last Saturday in Devitar village, Chitwan district, some 150 km southwest of Kathmandu, the Royal Nepal Army Public Relations Directorate said Monday in a statement.

In course of the operation, the security forces confiscated more than 2,000 improvised explosive devices including socket bombs, sutali bomb, roadside bomb, 320 detonators, as well as a large quantity of raw materials, hundreds of domestic weapons and other logistical goods.

Some guerrillas were arrested in the factory during the operation, the statement said without giving exact numbers.

The guerrillas had been using the factory as a supply center of improvised explosive devices for Chitwan, Dhading and Gorkha districts, all located within 150 km from Kathmandu, it added.

More than 11,000 Nepalese people have lost their lives since the anti-government insurgency broke out in February 1996.

Source: Xinhua