Nepal and the eastern Indian state of Bihar have set up a joint team at their border to prevent the movement of Maoist rebels and anti-Indian militants between the two countries, officials said Saturday.

The team, which includes police and administrators from Bihar and southeastern districts of Nepal, has established joint posts along their part of the porous 1,040-km border.

"We have sent them photos of 35 wanted Maoist leaders and told the local authorities they will be eligible for a reward of up to five million Nepalese rupees (64,000 dollars) if these terrorists are killed or apprehended," an official in Nepal's home ministry said.

One photograph sent is of the Maoists' elusive supremo Pushpa Kamal Dahal, alias Prachand, he said.

Nepal has also agreed informally on cooperation with Uttar Pradesh, the other major Indian state that borders the landlocked kingdom, the official said.

Nepal has charged that Maoist rebels, fighting a bloody six-year insurgency to topple the constitutional monarchy, have set up bases in lawless areas across the border.

India, in turn, alleges that arch-rival Pakistan's

intelligence services use the Nepal border as a gateway into the country to circumvent the heavily militarised Indo-Pakistani border.

Nepal's Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba in March visited India, Nepal's chief supplier of military aid and economic partner, and said New Delhi agreed to step up patrols of its border with the mountain kingdom.

Meanwhile, at least 350 Maoist rebels were killed in an offensive by Nepalese security forces this week, state minister for home affairs Devendra Raj Kandel said Saturday issuing a new toll.

The new figure -- up from at least 140 given on Friday -- makes the battle the deadliest in the Maoists' six-year insurgency to topple the constitutional monarchy.

More than 210 rebels were killed Thursday in the western district of Rolpa, some 298 km west of Kathmandu, Kandel told AFP.

Another 40 were killed when security forces attacked a rebel base at Boktang in Doti district, 398 km west of the capital.

Official sources said the heavy toll was inflicted in Rolpa when government forces spotted a high-level Maoist meeting at a training camp and pounded the base with attack helicopters.