The United States condemns attacks by Maoist rebels who recently killed 130 people in western Nepal, State Department Spokesman Richard Boucher told reporters February 19.

The victims of the weekend raids on two towns in the remote district of Achham included police officers, soldiers and local government officials. Maoist attacks on government installations in November prompted the Nepalese parliament to approve a three-month state of emergency.

"We have called on the Maoists, as ever before, to pursue their goals peacefully, within the democratic framework established by Nepal's constitution," Boucher said at his daily noon briefing in Washington.

The Maoists have been fighting for a communist republic in Nepal since 1996, and the insurgency has claimed the lives of more than 2,000 people.

Following is an excerpt from Boucher's February 19 briefing containing his comments about Nepal:

(begin excerpt)

Question: Nepal? That's it. (Laughter.)

Mr. Boucher: Should I give you as concise an answer as the question?

Mr. Boucher: Condemn the Maoists, not condemn Nepal. The attacks over the weekend killed almost 130 people, we understand. We condemn these attacks on government installations and officials. We do understand that Nepal's parliament is shortly expected to begin its deliberations on extension of the three-month-old state of emergency, and we have called on the Maoists, as ever before, to pursue their goals peacefully within the democratic framework established by Nepal's constitution.

Question: After the Secretary -- while the Secretary was in Kathmandu, there was both the Nepalese -- he said the Nepalese had raised with him the issue of the Travel Warning that you guys had, and shortly after we came back from there, the Travel Warning was eased. In fact, it went from telling citizens that they should defer all travel to simply telling them to exercise caution.

Then on the 8th, I believe, last week, there was a supplementary Public Announcement talking about the possibility for renewed Maoist attacks. Is there any consideration being given to re-imposing the first -- what I said, the initial defer travel?

Mr. Boucher: Well, we'll do that when we think it's appropriate. I don't know if it's being looked at now. I'll have to check. But I would point out that the current advisory, the one from February 8th -- I'm trying to find the exact language -- basically warns people not to go outside of the -- to avoid travel outside of the Kathmandu Valley, and to stay in close touch with the embassy, which of course is the best advice, because they can give better up-to-date information on security conditions than we can through our announcements.

Question: Right, but it doesn't try to have people defer all travel to the country, which is --

Mr. Boucher: No, that's right.

(end excerpt)

(Distributed by the Office of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)