Kathmandu - The Nepalese government has held first informal talks with armed rebel groups operating in southern Nepal in a bid to end years of violence in the area, a media report said Thursday.

The meeting is the first reported between the Maoist-led government and the armed rebels groups since a new government was formed in August.

The meeting took place in a border town in India between the local development minister, Ramchandra Jha, and representatives of a few of the armed groups based in southern Nepal, Kantipur newspaper reported.

"I held informal talks with the rebel groups in the town of Darbanga in the Indian state of Bihar," the newspaper quoted Jha as saying. "The talks centred on choosing a venue and date for the initial phase of peace talks between the government and the rebel groups."

Jha, however, said no decision was reached on finalizing a date for the peace negotiations. He also did not disclose the groups involved in the talks.

In early October, the Nepalese government formally invited armed rebel groups in the southern Nepalese plains known as the Terai for peace talks.

The government says it has officially written to 11 of the 21 groups involved in the insurgency.

However, armed groups have been slow to respond to the government invitation.

The Nepalese minister for peace and reconstruction, Janardan Sharma, a former Maoist rebel commander, told Nepalese media that government efforts to make contact with the rebel groups had been positive.

"The government is ready to sit down for negotiations and show maximum flexibility," Sharma told the Kantipur newspaper. "Informal talks with the groups have been positive so far."

Sharma also expressed concern that several new groups had emerged after the government extended the invitation for talks.

"New groups have emerged in southern Nepal after the government called on armed groups for peace negotiations," Sharma said. "There are growing numbers of groups that are trying to take advantage of the situation by putting forward new political demands."

Many of the armed groups have roots with the Maoist movement in Nepal, and split into minor groups after the Maoists signed a formal peace deal with the government in November 2006.

The Nepalese government says the rebel groups are involved in extortion, kidnapping and murder of government employees and those opposing them across southern Nepal.

Hundreds of people have died in the low-level insurgency since the beginning of 2007 and several attempts to bring the rebel groups for talks have failed. (dpa)