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Nepal Communist Rebels End Pro-Protest Blockade

Communist rebels have withdrawn a blockade of Nepal`s highways and have given country`s political parties a two day deadline to begin the process of rewriting the constitution. "We have withdrawn the blockade until the first meeting of the Parliament, taking into consideration positive assurances," rebel leader Prachanda said in the statement.

The announcement came as soldiers in southwestern Nepal fired on thousands of villagers protesting at the death of a local woman at an army camp, killing six, a rights activist said. The military, however, said the villagers were trying to overrun the camp in the village of Belbari, and that the dead woman was a suspected Maoist insurgent.

The rebels had blocked key roads for weeks to support a campaign of anti-monarchy protests by the opposition coalition of seven main political parties. The protests ended for the most part when the king under heavy domestic and international pressure agreed to give up the total power he had assumed and give it back to the people.