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Hunt for Nepal police chief killers
KATHMANDU, Nepal (CNN) -- Police in Nepal have launched a massive manhunt after suspected Maoist rebels gunned down the country's most senior paramilitary officer. Officials say the Inspector General of the Armed Police force, Krishna Mohan Shrestha, along with his wife and a bodyguard, were killed during a morning walk on Sunday just south of the capital Kathmandu. The three were shot repeatedly by at least three unidentified gunmen and reportedly died on the scene at about 7:35 a.m. local time (0150 GMT). "They died on the spot," said a police officer near the area of the shooting. One person was injured in the attack and is under police guard in hospital though it is unclear if the person was an assailant or a passerby. There has been no claim of responsibility for the shooting but police suspect Maoist rebels, who are fighting to replace Nepal's monarchy with a socialist state. A wide dragnet has been set up in the capital with police setting up roadblocks, searching vehicles and stopping people randomly. The government also ordered an emergency cabinet meeting on Sunday.
The assassination, if carried out by the Maoists, represents a major escalation in the seven-year insurgency. Shrestha is the highest-level police officer to be killed since a Maoists uprising began in early 1996 demanding to turn Nepal into a republican state. More than 7,200 people have died in the insurgency so far, according to government estimates. Shrestha led the Armed Police Force, a paramilitary force of more than 15,000 members established only one and half years ago to battle the Maoist rebels. The APF, along with the Royal Nepalese Army, has been at the forefront of the fight. The rebel hit comes in the wake of fighting in the northwestern district of Syangja where security forces, including the APF, claimed to have killed at least four rebels over the weekend and trapped dozens more.
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