kathmandu, Feb 6 (UNI) At least 17 persons including a Nepali Congress (NC)lawmaker and former minister Dilendra Prasad Badu and a dozen policemen were injured in Maoist attack in a village in far western of Darchula district, local media reported today.

The NC activists were injured in a clash that ensued after the Maoist cadres tried to foil the NC's election campaign at Latinath VDC in Darchula district near the Indian border, it said.

Mr Badu has received critical injuries and other activists have received injuries in the head and legs.

The injured were airlifted to the capital today for treatment, Kantipur quoted its local reporter as saying.

The Maoist cadres picketed the house of a local NC activist Mohan Singh Dhami, where the NC team was taking lunch, and pounced on them, said Darchula Chief District Officer Yagy Raj Bohara.

During the scuffle, the Maoists torched 12 houses of the village apart from looting a rifle, a pistol and a communication set from the police, said police Inspector Amar Bahadur Bom.

The Young Communist League has been criticised by political parties and even some times Maoists leadership for resorting to violent activities against the opposition parties.

UNI XC KK DB2257