World

Nepal Maoists Mourn Gaur Massacre

by Actual News Geezer | March 23, 2007 at 01:41 pm

1465 views | 15 Recommendations | 6 comments

The photo included is the most stunning news shot we have received this week at NowPublic: the bodies of 27 Maoists being cremated in Nepal. The photo was uploaded in the last few minutes but I have not yet been able to confirm its authenticity by Salik Shah, our correspondent in Kathmandu, Nepal.

There are conflicting headlines all over the place: "27 terrorists killed"; "Nepalese mourn victims of massacre." The headline above, from United We Blog (see the About, below) is one of the former types. So it's understandable that those in the West are unsure about what is going on.

We've requested that UWB share with us some remarkable photos of the funerals; we hope they'll agree and if so, the photos will appear here shortly. Until then, Salik's photo remains the only visual evidence of this episode: each of those bonfires represents a human body being burned.

The Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) today held a memorial service for the Maoist cadres who died in Wednesday’s Rautahat carnage at Tundikhel’s Khulla Manch in Kathmandu. Maoist Chairman Prachanda draped party flags over the bodies as a mark of respect. The Maoists had airlifted the bodies of 25 of their fellow activists who were killed in the clash with the Madhesi Peoples’ Rights Forum (MPRF or MJF) cadres to the capital yesterday.

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Actual News Geezer

flagged this story as Good Stuff

at 13:45 on March 23rd, 2007

I still have not received confirmation that the remarkable photo is authentic - but the story from United We Blog most certainly is.

I have emailed Salik to get confirmation and will repost this upon receipt of his response.

Actual News Geezer

at 13:55 on March 23rd, 2007

Breaking.

Kaitlin

flagged this story as Good Stuff

at 14:03 on March 23rd, 2007

Thank you Salik, this is an amazing story and a wonderful photo.

JamesBruni

at 18:00 on March 23rd, 2007

Kudos to Salik. Absolutely riveting.

salik

at 08:44 on March 25th, 2007

I'm making some corrections- Only 17 corspes were airlifted to Kathmandu the day before yesterday. I'll post the story of recent developments in a short while. Please, visit http://kathspeaks.blogspot.com, there's a detail report on the incident.

salik

at 11:20 on March 25th, 2007

The credit for this 'stunning news shot' goes to Sagar Shrestha. I'm glad that his photograph has been given such positive reactions. I'd like to thank ANG for this on his behalf.