AFP. 2 February 2002. Army defuses six suspected Maoist bombs in Nepal capital.
KATHMANDU -- The army in Nepal Saturday defused six bombs, four of which were planted at a bus station in Kathmandu, police said. Maoist rebels are believed to have planted the devices as anti-monarchy and anti-prime minister slogans were found written on banners nearby. Members of the public spotted the bombs at the bus station in the outskirts of Kathmandu and in the nearby suburb of Sanepa, and called the police. Army bomb disposal squads were called in to defuse the explosives. "We managed to avert a possible disaster in the capital," a police source said. Officials said Saturday that three Maoist rebels were killed in clashes with security forces in western Nepal. "Two Maoists were killed in Dandeldhura and one in Bara district when they clashed with security forces Thursday night," a defence ministry statement said. A large cache of guns, ammunitions and explosives were also recovered in the encounters, it said. But Home Minister Devendra Raj Kandel admitted Friday that despite the emergency security personnel had not been able to locate senior Maoist leaders. Minister for Communications Jayaprakash Prasad Gupta said Saturday that the state-controlled Nepal Telecommunications Corporation (NTC) had incurred losses of a 250 million rupees (328,947 dollars) because of damage caused by Maoist attacks since 1996. "Telecommunication links in nine of the country's 75 administrative districts have been disrupted (over this period)," Gupta said. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Barry Stoller http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ProletarianNews
