At least 53 people were killed and 40 wounded in south-western Nepal when a powerful bomb ripped apart a crowded passenger bus in one of the bloodiest attacks on civilians by suspected Maoist rebels since their revolt began nine years ago.
An army officer said the bus was torn up by the force of the blast and that passengers were badly mutilated by shrapnel as well as by shards of metal and glass from the bus.
”[The bus] rose into the air … quite high and came down and split into two,” the officer said, quoting witnesses.
State radio and officials gave the death toll as 53 but warned it could rise.
The radio, quoting police superintendent Surendra Bahadur Shah, said that 16 seriously hurt people had been transferred to hospitals in Kathamandu for treatment.
Shah attributed the attack to ”terrorists” — the label given to the Maoists by the security forces.
Officials said many of the victims were women and children, and that among the dead were three security personnel who were on the bus on their way home for the holidays.
The blast occurred in the district of Chitwan, about 180km southwest of Kathmandu, early in the morning. Chitwan is a Maoist-controlled area.
The military has cordoned off the scene and launched search operations throughout the district, officials said.
The army officer in Chitwan district, who declined to be named, said a homemade bomb planted in the road was used by suspected rebels to blow up the bus.
”As the bus came near, the improvised explosive device was set off by remote control,” he said.
”The bodies of [the] dead were badly mutilated or blown to pieces by the explosion,” said another officer.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility from the Maoists, who have been fighting to install a communist republic in Nepal since 1996. The insurgency has already claimed more than 11 000 lives.
The rebels are generally not known for launching indiscriminate bombings of civilian targets, although they have been accused by human rights groups of the torture and murder of villagers they believe to be collaborating with the armed forces.
The Maoists have stepped up their campaign through road blockades and attacks on troops after King Gyanendra sacked the coalition government, imposed a state of emergency and assumed absolute power on February 1.
Army spokesperson Brigadier General Dipak Gurung said last month the security situation in Nepal was ”definitely better today” than before the king sacked the government for failing to control the Maoists and hold elections.
”We are able to focus more on our main job” of fighting the insurgency rather than containing civilian disturbances, said the general. – Sapa-AFP