Nepali Maoists to allow aid agencies to work

"We ... have instructed cadres and local people's representatives to cooperate," Maoist chief Prachanda said in a statement.

In the past the rebels have demanded money from aid agencies or beaten their staff, forcing them to scale back projects in rural areas.

In May, Maoists beat up a woman working for a project in west Nepal funded by four international aid agencies, including the World Food Programme, forcing them to suspend work in the area.

But the Maoists appeared to be coming under popular and political pressure to allow aid workers to operate in the desperately poor country, analysts said.

The average Nepali lives on a daily income of less than $0.60 a day and the nine-year revolt had pushed the country deeper into poverty.

Prachanda pledged to respect the guidelines that govern the operations of the United Nations and other agencies, which include the safety of aid workers involved in sectors ranging from health care to irrigation and farming.

Earlier Nepal's Maoists have killed two civilians and abducted more than 400 in two separate incidents in recent days, the Royal Nepalese Army said Thursday evening.

"The terrorists have killed two civilians and abducted more than 400 in two separate incidents in the past several days," the army said in a press release.

"The rebels shot dead Shyam Sundas and Judas Sundas at Timma Village in Bhojpur district on December 17," it said.

In another incident, Tuesday, the Maoists abducted at least 400 civilians including children, women and elderly people from Tarakhola, Pandav and Adhikari Chowk in the far-western Baglung district, it said.