At least 12 persons including Maoist rebels and security personnel have been killed and around one and a half dozen civilians injured in separate clashes and explosions in different places of the country on Sunday and Monday. More than one dozen civilians were injured, two of them critically, when an explosion took place in a busy market of Chipledhunga in Pokhara Monday afternoon. Eyewitnesses said the explosion was aimed at a patrolling security vehicle. They said the vehicle escaped the blast but civilians were injured. Security officials believe the explosion was caused by the rebels who had not made any comment by Monday evening. The rebels had offered apologies for the explosion that had left six civilians injured in Pokhara on Saturday. In a separate incident on Monday morning, three security personnel died in a clash with the rebels in Kavre Bhanjyang of Kavre district. An official with the Directorate of Public Relations of the army said the clash took place after the rebels attacked a security patrol that was heading toward a checkpoint. He said there were unconfirmed reports of a civilian who was caught in the crossfire. A local Maoist rebel leader said less than half-a-dozen civilians had sustained minor injuries during the clash. In a separate clash on Sunday in Rupandehi district, at least eight Maoists died while the army has claimed that they have recovered 16 dead bodies of the rebels from the clash site. The rebels have admitted that eight of their fighters had died. They also claimed that they had inflicted heavy losses on the security side but they had no specific figures. The army said no security personnel was killed or injured in the incident. Violence has escalated after the rebels broke a four-month truce last January.