Nepal rebels help prison break
(CNN) -- Nepal remains gripped by political tension, with rebels helping to break more than a hundred prisoners out of jail, and police quashing a protest in the capital Kathmandu.
News agency reports say hundreds of Maoist rebels attacked the prison in the south-western town of Dhangadi on Thursday, killing at least five policemen, and freeing about 150 inmates, some of them rebels.
The unrest follows King Gyanendra's move last week to declare emergency powers, sack the elected government and suspend civil liberties.
The measures drew worldwide criticism, but the king said they were necessary to control the Maoist insurgency.
The editor of the Nepali Times, Kunda Dixit, told CNN via telephone from Kathmandu on Friday that the measures were supported by people fed up with the rebels' strikes and attacks.
"They wanted someone to clean up the mess," Dixit said.
He also believes King Gyanendra is well placed to try to resolve the conflict.
"He's definitely got a window of opportunity," Dixit said.
Plans by human rights groups to stage a protest in Kathmandu against King Gyanendra were scuttled Thursday.
Police detained the protestors as they arrived, putting them in vans, and blocked others from gathering. At least 12 people were arrested.
Earlier, Nepal announced the release from house arrest of seven top political leaders, including two former prime ministers.
Nepal has been in the grip of an insurgency since 1996 that has claimed as many as 10,000 lives. The rebels say they draw their inspiration from the late Chinese revolutionary leader Mao Zedong.
Dixit said this weekend is the ninth anniversary of the insurgency.
"If a solution is not found, war could drag on for years, if not decades," he said.
Along with the insurgency, Nepal has had to deal with another crisis in recent years.
In 2001, King Birendra and eight other members of the royal family were killed by a drunken crown prince who then took his own life. King Gyanendra then came to the throne.
