By APD writer Ishwar Khanal

KATHMANDU, Feb.23 (APD) - A powerful bomb blast in Nakhhu, on the outskirts of Nepal’s capital Kathmandu killed a 49-year-old man and left two others injured, police said.

The incident occurred on Saturday night just outside the office of Ncell, a telecommunications company owned by a Malaysia-based Axiata Group Berhad.

According to eye witnesses, loud explosion was heard on Saturday night at Nakku in Lalitpur district, south of capital Kathmandu.

So far, no group has claimed responsibility for the attack. However, police suspect hands of a semi-underground Biplov group, a breakaway faction of the then Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist), which had a few days ago issued warnings to Ncell over charges of not paying tax to the government, and deceiving its clients..

Nepal Police have taken around six people in custody in connection with the incident. Meanwhile, Nepal’s Minister for Home Affairs, am Bahadur Thapa said that the government would soon bring the perpetrators to book.

A few minutes after the Nakhhu incident, a pressure cooker bomb was found near a restaurant at Kamalpokhari in Kathmandu, which a bomb squad from the Nepal army immediately succeeded in diffusing it.

A series of blasts in several parts of the country were witnessed the same night, police said. Uttam Raj Subedi, spokesperson of Nepal Police, said police have bene on high alert after the blasts.

(ASIA PACIFIC DAILY)