Katmandu, Nepal ? Without setting up a roadblock or even making an appearance, Maoist rebels cut off the capital from the rest of this Himalayan kingdom by declaring a blockade Wednesday, leaving Katmandu with only a few days of food and cooking fuel.

Extra police took to the roads leading into the city, but no drivers defied the guerrillas. In the past, rebels have burned dozens of vehicles and planted mines to enforce blockades, and early this week they threw a bomb at a luxury hotel for disregarding an order to shut down.

The government promised to provide security for travelers, but that didn’t reassure civilians.

“Who is going to take such a big risk?” truck driver Mahesh Lama said. “Even if we get protection today, the rebels could take action against us for refusing their order tomorrow or even next week.”

Because it is the rainy season, there were relatively few tourists in Katmandu, and only few of them had left because of the unrest, hotel managers said. So far, they said, there had been no cancellations for the main season, which begins in September. The Soaltee Hotel closed and moved its guests to other hotels after the bomb hurled over a wall exploded on its tennis court Monday night.

The rebels — inspired by Chinese revolutionary leader Mao Zedong — have been fighting since 1996 to replace Nepal’s monarchy with a communist state. More than 9,500 people have died in the war, most of them in rural areas far from the capital.

The guerrillas have struck Katmandu before, planting bombs under buses and motorcycles to enforce strikes or inspiring students to shut down schools. But Wednesday’s blockade was unusual because it was succeeding simply on fear.

The rebels sent a brief notice to newspapers last week saying that beginning Wednesday they would impose the blockade for an indefinite period to pressure the government to free jailed guerrillas immediately and provide information on others who are missing.