Kathmandu, June 14 (Reuters): India has provided Nepal’s army two military attack helicopters to help crush an eight-year-old Maoist revolt, officials said today.

The Himalayan kingdom does not have an air force, but its army, deployed since 2001 to combat 15,000 to 20,000 guerrillas in their hideouts, has seven helicopters, and the new ones will take the total to nine.

“They will boost the air capability of the army in its fight against the Maoists,” a defence ministry official said, adding that the helicopters were gun ships.