In six years of rebellion by Maoists, 7,076 have died. As dreadful as that sounds, it's a lower death rate for 25 million Nepalese than most major American cities, and much less than the rebellions in Africa and South America. But largely rural Nepal normally has a very low murder rate. Most of the dead were rebels, but 776 civilians, 970 policemen and 219 soldiers have died. Moreover, 80 percent of the deaths took place in the last year, when the rebels escalated their operations after peace negotiations failed.