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The British government launched a covert operation in support of the Nepali government against communist rebels during the country's decadelong Maoist insurgency, according to a new book, entitled Kathmandu.

The book, unveiled officially on Sept 4, says British authorities had funded and also conducted a four-year intelligence operation in the Himalayan country from 2002 to 2006 code-named "Operation Mustang".

The book, which is on sale in Nepal and neighboring India, claims that the covert operation - conducted by spy agency MI6 - was specially focused on supporting Nepal's state security agency, the Nepal Army, in the fight against Maoist insurgents, leading to their murder, arrest and torture.

The Secret Intelligence Service, commonly known as MI6 (Military Intelligence, Section 6), is the British agency that supplies foreign intelligence to the British government.

"The operation was designed to assist the Nepali authorities, especially their intelligence service known as the National Investigation Department, to identify and infiltrate Maoist networks in Kathmandu," author Thomas Bell tells Xinhua.

Bell, a journalist reporting from Kathmandu for The Economist and other publications, is a long-time resident of Kathmandu.

"Information about Operation Mustang was first publicly disclosed in 2007 following a corruption scandal inside the NID," Bell says.

"The disclosures at that time showed that the British had contributed a large amount of equipment and resources in their anti-Maoist operation."

Bell also claims that the MI6 had run three safe houses as part of "Operation Mustang".