The anti-government guerrillas have abducted more than 500 teachers and students from various schools in remote areas in eastern Nepal's Panchthar district over the past few days, a police office said in a statement on Monday.

The guerrillas abducted these teachers and students from Panchthar district, some 300 km east of Kathmandu, the local police office said.

The teachers were forcibly taken away to make them participate in a district-level political training campaign launched by the guerrillas, the statement said.

The guerrillas have continued abducting students and teachers from remote areas in the district during the past four days.

Hundreds of students and teachers of secondary schools in Chokmagu, Syabrumba, Bharpa, Gopetar, Nagi, Oyam and Faktep villages have been abducted.

The whereabouts of all the abducted teachers and students is not known yet, said the statement.

Over 12,000 Nepalese people have been killed since the anti- government insurgency took place in the Himalayan kingdom in February 1996.

Source: Xinhua