*Maoist Rebels Want a One-party state  * Washington Urges Rebels to Lay Down Arms  _______

KATHMANDU (Reuters) - At least 27 people were wounded when a bomb believed to have been planted by Maoist guerrillas exploded in the Nepali capital on Friday as soldiers killed a dozen rebels across the Himalayan kingdom, police and officials said. (Read photo caption within)
There were fresh blood stains on the ground at the bridge near a market in the Bhimsensthan area.
Bhimsensthan is an area not usually visited by tourists, who flock to Nepal for its temples, jungles and mountains, but the district overlooks the famous Swyambhunath temple, a Buddhist shrine on a hillock to the west of the city center.
Elsewhere, soldiers shot dead 12 rebels in separate gunbattles over the past 24 hours, a Defense Ministry spokesman said.
Kathmandu has, in recent months, been hit by a string of small explosions blamed on Maoist insurgents waging a violent campaign to set up a one-party, communist republic in the poor nation.
In Washington, State Department spokesman Philip Reeker urged the Maoists to lay down their arms immediately, stop attacks on civilians and pursue their aims peacefully.


PHOTO CAPTION:
Victims of a bomb blast await medical help at hospital in Kathmandu, March 29, 2002. At least 27 people were wounded when a bomb believed to have been planted by Maoist guerrillas exploded in the Nepali capital Friday as soldiers killed a dozen rebels across the Himalayan kingdom, police and officials said. 'It's a bomb explosion. Investigations are going on,' a police official told Reuters. Photo by Gopal Chitrakar/Reuters