(AFP)- Nepal’s army deployed helicopters and armed escorts Sunday as Maoist rebels marked the ninth anniversary of their bloody uprising with calls for a transport blockade that severely restricted traffic outside the capital.

The rebels called the blockade in protest at King Gyanendra’s power grab on February 1 when he sacked the government, appointed a pro-royalist cabinet headed by himself and declared a state of emergency.

They say it will continue until he reverses his actions, which have been condemned at home and abroad.

The country’s leading political party the Nepali Congress on Sunday called for a nationwide protest on February 18 to coincide with Democracy Day.

Political parties say up to 1,000 people have been rounded up since the king launched his crackdown, while the army puts the figure at around 100.

The army staged a major show of strength to try to thwart the Maoist blockade, on the anniversary of the start of the rebels’ struggle to topple the monarchy and install a communist republic.

Army spokesman Dipak Gurung said a "sufficient number" of ground forces and helicopters had been deployed along major highways, including the road to Raxaul south of Kathmandu which is the main trucking route into the country.

"Armoured helicopters are also escorting fuel tankers and public carriers along the Raxaul-Kathmandu route," Gurung said.

The army escorted vehicles entering or leaving the Kathmandu valley via the Thankot checkpoint, four kilometres (2.5 miles) south of the capital.

Very few vehicles except minibuses were operating on main highways outside the capital, said Purna Shrestha, a member of the Nepal Transport Entrepreneurs’ Federation.

Fuel truck driver Dinesh Lama, 25, said he left early Sunday for Mugling 100 kilometres to the west with 20 other trucks and an army escort that included vehicles sweeping for landmines.

"I’m scared to take the road as something might happen on the way," Lama said.

Soldiers at Mugling said no violence was reported and the road south to the Indian border was open. Businesses and traffic in the capital were normal.

Two transport strikes and road blockades called by the rebels in the past six months were enforced more by threats than by physical force. They left the capital empty of essential goods and sparked price rises.

On Saturday a security official said the rebels were massing in large numbers in far-western Nepal, near the site of a Maoist assault on a prison last week.

The guerrillas freed 150 prisoners, of whom police said 145 were still on the run. Five soldiers and at least one rebel died in the attack.

Military experts say the armed forces are ill-equipped to tackle the increasingly deadly insurgency that has claimed more than 11,000 lives since 1996.

The new government appointed by the king has offered unconditional peace talks with the rebels, who control large swathes of countryside. But the army has warned of fresh offensives to try to force them to the negotiating table.

The guerrillas have yet to respond to the offer of talks.

The United State and India, the main suppliers of financial aid and military equipment to Nepal to counter the Maoist threat, are pressing for an end to the state of emergency and an end to the detention of political leaders and others.

Nepal, one of the world’s 10 poorest countries, gets more than half its development budget from international donors.