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Kathmandu Wednesday July 04, 2001 Ashadh 20, 2058.
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Rebels
intensify attack in Valley Bomb explosions at Balaju, Bafal
Post Report
KATHMANDU, July 3 - A powerful bomb went off Tuesday
afternoon inside Balaju Textile Mill premises at Balaju Industrial Area causing property
damage worth more than two million rupees. Police suspect Maoist rebels behind the attack,
which came barely a week after the underground rebels hung explosives with an
anti-establishment banner in the heart of the Capital.
Later in the afternoon another bomb, left hung with a
pro-Maoist banner, went off at Bafal area in western parts of the city, forcing locals to
panic in fear. No one was hurt in the incident.
No casualties were reported in the Balaju incident as all the
Textile Mill workers were out for snacks, but witnesses and police said the noise of the
explosion was heard several kilometres away. Soon after the explosion rocked the
north-western part of the city, policemen from the Area Police Office Balaju and
Sorhakhutte, and the Kathmandu District Police reached the site.
Also rushed to the site were some explosive specialists from
the Royal Nepal Army who, together with the police diffused the remnants of the
explosives. They have taken the remains for further investigation.
"The explosion literally rocked the area and left all
the factory workers - in the country’s key industrial estate - and people in the area
trembling with fear," said Assistant Officer at the Industrial Area.
This is first such attack in the industrial estate since the
rebels launched their "people’s war" more than five years ago.
Policemen and locals of Bafal area said the second explosion
took place at Gai-Bhachha Pati Chowk between 3:30 to 4:00 p.m in the afternoon. According
to the police, although three white pouches were hung weighing down the banner only one
contained explosive while the rest contained only mud.
The apparently jittery police personnel came to know this
only after carrying out all the procedures of defusing. The locals had not noticed that
there were bombs, they came to know about the banner and the bomb only after the bomb went
off, after which they informed the police.
The team was led by Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIGP)
Om Bikram Rana.
The banner looked alike that of the last Thursday’s
banner put up at Kel Tol in downtown Kathmandu, and bore slogans that demanded annulment
of the recently introduced Public Security Regulations-2001, besides slogans against the
new King and the Prime Minister.
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