Two killed in Nepal as bus hits landmine
Date: 15-Nov-02
Country: NEPAL
The attack followed a three-day national general strike ending this week, called by the rebels who are fighting to set up a communist republic in the deeply poor Himalayan kingdom.
Police said many of the injured were in critical condition after the blast that occurred on a bridge at Halhale, 200 km (125 miles) east of Kathmandu. The bus was bound for the capital from the town of Charikot.
"The injured passengers in critical condition were rushed to hospitals in Kathmandu in a helicopter," a police official said.
It was not immediately known how many people were in the bus which was badly damaged by the explosion, he said.
"It (the mine) went off as the first bus after the strike was crossing the bridge," the police official said.
More than 7,100 people have died in the six-year revolt.
Late this week two top Maoist leaders reiterated the group's call for formation of a new assembly to draft a fresh constitution to end their revolt. They vowed in a statement to continue their struggle if the demand was ignored.
The rebels ordered the latest strike, shutting schools, shops and businesses, to protest at King Gyanendra's sacking of Nepal's elected government in a row over the timing of elections.
Gyanendra fired Sher Bahadur Deuba as prime minister last month after he had sought to delay the vote because of rebel threats to sabotage it.
The move plunged the kingdom, still recovering from last year's massacre of most of the royal family by a drunken crown prince, into a new crisis.
Gyanendra named a strong royalist, Lokendra Bahadur Chand, as interim prime minister. Chand has pledged to hold early elections but no date has been fixed.
Chand and the rebels have said they are willing to engage in talks on ending the revolt that has racked Nepal's aid-dependent economy, crippled tourism and scared away investors, but no meeting has been arranged so far.
