"The Maoists had planned to hit the army chief's (General Pyar Jung Thapa) vehicle with powerful bombs fitted in a small four-wheel-drive jeep last month in Kathmandu," army spokesman Colonel Dipak Gurung told a news conference.

The Maoists intended to assassinate the general in a crowded place which could have caused widespread casualties but the army received a tipoff and was able to foil the plan, seize the car and arrest "some Maoists," he said.

Gurung did not say how many rebels were arrested or why the assassination attempt was not disclosed earlier.

He added the army had seized a second car "fitted with powerful bombs" which the Maoists intended to use in another attack in a public place in Kathmandu.

Army bomb experts also defused a powerful bomb earlier in January at a popular department store in Kathmandu, Gurung said.

The Maoists have been waging an increasingly bloody battle to overthrow the monarchy of the impoverished nation and install a communist republic.

But until now, Nepal's ancient capital has been relatively untouched by the Maoist revolt raging in the impoverished kingdom since 1996.

The deadliest rebel attacks have occurred outside the city against such targets as security posts.

"The army has been put on alert to avert any kind of major attacks or bomb explosions at public places in the capital city," Gurung said.

News of the assassination bid came as the army paraded a Maoist brigadier, Jaya Bahadur Gharti, at a press conference. "I surrendered to the army on my own and not under the army's coercion," Gharti told reporters.

Gharti said the Maoists had four brigades in the west of the country and three in the east. He said each brigade had about 1,800 to 2,000 men and women.

Since the Maoists withdrew from peace talks last August, security forces say they have killed 1,400 Maoist rebels including a brigadier and commanders.

Officials say at least 9,000 people have died in rebel-related violence since the uprising began 1996.

WAR.WIRE