"We have sensed a conspiracy against us," said Krishna Bahadur Mahara, Maoist spokesman and minister for communications.

"Of all the 22 ministers only we were given security guards from the ranger battalion, who received jungle warfare training during the insurgency," Mahara told journalists at a press conference in Nepal's capital Monday.

The Maoists, who left the jungles and hills to enter Nepal's corridors of power after signing a peace deal earlier this year, have been given five ministerial positions in an interim government.

They continue to face accusations that their activists use mafia-like tactics, and the group remains on a US list of terrorist organisations.

While the state was battling the Maoists, Nepal's 90,000-strong army received training and equipment from countries including India, the US and Britain.

The Maoists believe that they have been given guards from an elite ranger unit, which received US training.

"There was no need to send army with sophisticated weapons for our security," said Mahara.

"This move is very suspicious and we were not consulted. We are now seriously considering whether to stay in the government or not," Mahara told journalists.

The army, formerly headed by Nepal's sidelined King Gyanendra, denied Maoist charges that they had allocated different security details to the former rebels.