The people of Ghorahi say the Maoists came from Nepalgunj, Salyan, Rolpa and Pyuthan along the highway. They came in buses, trucks and minibuses, dropping their cadre all through Ghorahi-Tulsipur Chowk, the bus park, Sewar Khola, the water tank, the playfield of the Gorkha International School, which is very close to the traffic police station. They came fully armed and started surrounding the town from these places.

At exactly at 11PM that night they began attacking. They simultaneously attacked the office of the district administration, the Chief District Officer's residence, the District Police Office, the residence of the commanding officer, the traffic police station, the army barracks, branches of the Nepal Bank and the Agricultural Development Bank and the land revenue office. They came in, firing guns and setting off bombs. One Maoist was requesting residents over a public address system not to venture out of their homes. The police reported the next day that the encounter in the compound of the district administration office continued for almost 45 minutes, after which the CDO surrendered. The Maoists took him away and then destroyed the office and burnt a motorcycle and two vehicles. They also took 11 policemen and the CDO's wife to a nearby house and locked them up, telling the owner they should only be released at 10AM the following day.

The attack on the house of the commanding police officer also lasted close to an hour. Four policemen were killed and 14 injured. The police finally surrendered and the Maoists looted the station, carrying away all the weapons, clothes and communication equipment they found. They burnt down the district police headquarters and abducted the Superintendent of Police. The Maoists loaded their loot onto trucks they brought inside the compound. Finally, they destroyed the local jail and set free 37 inmates.

The attack on the army barracks went something like this: The Maoists first attacked the barracks with bombs, killing the two sentries on duty. The army couldn't get to their ammunition store and had to fight with Self-loading Rifles. Fourteen army men, including commanding officer Major Naresh Uprety, were killed. Some 25 were injured and the rest were captured.

This done, the Maoists started systematically looting the barracks and loading their booty onto two army trucks in the barracks compound, and a few other trucks they had brought with them. As they were leaving, they destroyed the barracks with bombs.

Witnesses say that after all this the Maoists exploded a bomb, shouted slogans and departed in a convoy of some 20 buses, trucks and mini buses. The kidnapped CDO was put in a vehicle captured from the Department of Forestry, which left for Holleri in Rolpa. The looted money and weapons were unloaded in Dahwan, Rolpa at 11am the next day.