KATHMANDU -- Nearly 60 Nepali policemen and soldiers were killed when Maoist rebels attacked a town in the west of the Himalayan nation, state television said on Monday.

"The 59 dead were made up of 43 policemen and 16 soldiers," Nepal TV said in a broadcast.

Government officials said at least 29 security men were injured in the overnight attack on the remote town of Sandhikharka, 300km (185 miles) west of the capital, Kathmandu, and many buildings had been ablaze by the guerrillas.

The latest attack by the rebels fighting to topple the constitutional monarchy in the poor landlocked nation and set up a communist republic followed a weekend guerrilla raid on a police post in east Nepal in which 49 police were killed.

More than 4,800 people have been killed in rebel-related violence since the Maoist uprising began in 1996 -- nearly 3,000 in the last 10 months. the rebels have stepped up their attacks on security forces and government buildings in recent weeks following a lull since May.