KATHMANDU -- Nepal's government Sunday ended a 27-day ban on public gatherings in Kathmandu, saying the threat by Maoist rebels had eased, although eight more deaths were reported in fighting across the kingdom.

"The prohibition order has been withdrawn from the Kathmandu Valley as the situation is under control now," Home Ministry spokesman Gopendra Bahadur Pandey said.

The ban on gatherings of more than five people was imposed September 1 after the Maoists ended a seven-month ceasefire and was extended September 24. The government said the rebels could infiltrate meetings to launch attacks in the capital.

Nepal's main political parties repeatedly defied the ban by holding protests in central Kathmandu to press King Gyanendra to restore the elected government he dissolved in October 2002.

Thousands were detained as police broke up the demonstrations, with most protesters released within hours.

Despite the government's statement that Kathmandu had stabilized, police said an official from Nepal's intelligence service was gunned down Sunday morning in Bhaktapur on the outskirts of the capital.

"Sergeant Hari Krishna Sinkhel was drinking his tea near the Nyatapole temple when he was shot dead," a police officer said.

Separately, five rebels died in a half-hour gun battle early Sunday at the Keshariya stream near the southeastern industrial hub Biratnagar, police said.

Two other Maoists died in a clash with troops Saturday night near Nuwakot, 90 kilometers (56 miles) northwest of Kathmandu, according to police.

Suspected Maoists set off a bomb Sunday at the branch of the government-affiliated National Insurance Corporation in the southern city of Birganj, destroying furniture and files but not inflicting casualties, state radio said.

The violence came despite a Maoist announcement Friday that the rebels would suspend attacks from October 2 to 10 during the Hindu kingdom's biggest festival Dasain, when thousands of people flock to their home villages for family celebrations.

The government has welcomed the temporary truce and urged the Maoists to come back to the negotiating table.

Officials have not said whether the army would also hold its fire during the nine-day cease-fire. The Maoists warned they would retaliate if troops used the lull in violence to launch attacks.

The Maoists, who want to overthrow the monarchy, ended the cease-fire on August 27 after the government refused their demands to set up a special assembly to redraft the constitution, AFP reported.

Since the end of the truce at least 288 people have died, according to government figures. Death tolls from clashes in Nepal are often difficult to verify independently as they take place in remote areas.

The Maoist insurgency has claimed nearly 8,100 lives since 1996. Nepal's major parties, which oppose the Maoists, do not recognize Prime Minister Surya Bahadur Thapa as he was appointed by King Gyanendra. The monarch had dismissed elected premier Sher Bahadur Deuba on charges he was "incompetent."

The parties did not immediately react to the lifting of the public assembly ban, which they charged was part of a government drive to suppress democratic dissent.