2004 Beni attack
[2][3] By 2003, the Maoist guerilla fighters were organised into a centralised military force, the People's Liberation Army, with battalion-level formations.
The Maoists launched the Special People's Military Campaign in February 2004 to "militarize the entire population and create a mentality of resistance".
The much smaller Eastern Division of the PLA carried out its attack on Bhojpur on 2 February 2004, resulting in 20 police and 12 military deaths.
Around 1,700 people, including villagers abducted or coerced into volunteering, were charged with transporting weapons, medical supplies, food and clothing.
Thousands of cattle had been caravanned from all over western Nepal to feed the troops, while large quantities of medical supplies were smuggled from across the Indian border.
A letter from the then supreme commander of PLA and General Secretary of the Maoist Party, Pushpa Kamal Dahal (Prachanda), was read.
[4] The caravan of PLA fighters, Maoist activists and civilian "volunteers" marched through days and nights, across the forests, fields and snowy mountains of Dhawalagiri region,[4][5] stopping for short times only at the designated rest-stops where local villagers had been "volunteered" to cook for them and provide shelter.
As they passed Darwang, they ordered the locals to prepare meals in the early morning of 21 March to feed the fighters returning from Beni.
They appeared as though they had not taken a bath for a long time; some of them were hunting fleas on their body, some were old and walking with sticks, and around one-fifths were women.
[5] The main attack force descended from the Arthunge hills that surround the Beni Valley from the north-western side at around 9 pm on 20 March.
The group that had separated to arrive in the town through the main road along the Myagdi River reached Mangalghat bazaar to the west of the barracks around 10:45 pm.
At 11 pm, the maoists started firing 81-mm and 2-inch mortars at the military barracks of the Shri Kali Prasad Battalion (E) in western Beni from at least three positions surrounding it.
After an hour of bombing, Pasang ordered the mortars to cease fire and the main attack force in the town to begin the assault.
The 300 fighters who were sent to attack the district jail on the other side of the river met no resistance, as the 19 police officers on duty that night had already fled.
The Maoists could not stop for meals and rest as planned until they reached deep within their stronghold; some fighters were seen eating uncooked rice as they walked.
According to official figures, 19 civilians died, including three boys between the ages of six and twelve who were killed in a nearby village by grenades left behind by the Maoists.
On 6 April, they were released to the custody of International Red Cross amid a ceremony; its representatives had flown to Thawang on invitation from the Maoists.
Their ability to coordinate a massive operation lasting months in complete secrecy showed their strength in rural western Nepal, and how poor RNA intelligence was.
[12][13] However, their inability to breach a barracks after more than 12 hours of attack with thousands of fighters against a few hundred military personnel showed that they were far from achieving an upper hand over the RNA.
