By Sushil Sharma BBC correspondent in Kathmandu

They say that Nepal's children have been among the worst affected by the long-running Maoist insurgency.

They have now asked that children be spared the effects of armed conflicts.

A leading child rights organisation, Concern Centre for Child Workers in Nepal (CWIN), has said that nearly 150 children have been killed over the past seven years of violence.

Another 4,000 are said to have been displaced and 2,000 orphaned.

Scarred

Children have suffered at the hands of both the rebels and the security forces.

CWIN chairman Gauri Pradhan said that thousands of children face an uncertain future due to the psychological trauma caused by of the cycle of violence.

Maoist rebels have been mainly blamed for using children in the battlefront.

Recent reports said that the rebels abducted hundreds of school students in the western region.

Although most of them had been freed, some have allegedly been recruited in the rebel ranks.

The rebels deny the allegation.

Rehabilitating victims

Child rights workers say that children from poor families in the remote hills have been worst affected.

It is in such regions that the Maoist violence and the security operation to crush the rebels have been most intense.

A group of child rights organisations has now announced that a campaign will be launched in these areas to support and rehabilitate the affected children.

Mr Pradhan told the BBC that the move is aimed at ensuring the basic needs such as food, shelter, health and education.

He called for the co-operation of the government and the rebels.

More than 7,000 people including rebels, security personnel and civilians have died since the Maoist rebels launched an armed struggle in early 1996 to establish a communist state.

The violence reached an unprecedented scale last year after the peace talks between the government and the rebels broke down following three inconclusive rounds.