A Hindi-speaking Nepalese from the Terai plains is said to be taking on Maoist guerrillas with his private militia reminiscent of the Ranvir Sena in the Indian state of Bihar.

Since Feb 17, the militia has killed 21 Maoists in southwest Nepal, close to the Indian border, in Kapilavastu district.

The group was formed by Pritam Pandey, said to be a former follower of the Nepali Congress party, ostensibly because villagers were tired of extortion and abduction by Maoists and wanted to resist.

The local media here reported last year that Pandey was training about 500 young men in armed combat and boasted that his outfit possessed AK-47s, shotguns and explosives.

Last year a Nepalese weekly quoted him as saying that his men had received help from some leaders in India's Uttar Pradesh state.

The media has dubbed Pandey's "resistance committee" the Ranvir Sena of Nepal, likening it to the group in Bihar that is a private army of upper caste landowners formed to fight the state's outlawed communists belonging to the Maoist Communist Centre.

Pandey's group, reports from Kapilavastu say, has been setting fire to houses belonging to hills people, raising fears of ethnic tension between hills people and the plains people, pejoratively called Madhesias.

The private army has raised Maoist hackles. Krishna Bahadur Mahara, former MP and spokesman of the Maoists, issued a statement from underground Wednesday, condemning the band.

Last year the media reported a Maoist attack on Pipara village in Kapilavastu in retaliation to the activities of the resistance committee. In a single raid, they killed five villagers, claiming the men were slain for their anti-Maoist activities. They also said Pandey was among those killed.

However, Pandey was reported as having called up the local media to deny it. He told the media he and his men had taken shelter in India on being tipped off about the Maoist retaliatory attack.

Pandey and his band apparently shot back this month, killing 21 Maoists in different areas in Kapilavastu.

According to the army, it was a spontaneous uprising by villagers triggered by the abduction of two locals by the Maoists.

The incident led to clashes in at least three areas Friday and Sunday, resulting in enraged villagers killing the rebels, the army said. However, the Kapilavastu killings are regarded as the handiwork of Pandey's band.

Some say the band is tacitly supported by the army, but the army denies any involvement.