Kathmandu bomb leaves 38 injured

From: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/3995409.stm

Most of the injured were treated in hospital and swiftly discharged At least 38 people have been hurt in a bomb attack in Nepal's capital, Kathmandu, officials say. The explosion struck a building of the government-owned Employees' Provident Fund that was under construction. No one has admitted the attack but police say it follows the pattern of raids by Maoist rebels. The Maoists have been waging an eight-year insurgency to replace the constitutional monarchy. More than 9,000 people have died. Rickshaw park The BBC's Charles Haviland in Kathmandu says the blast happened in a congested central area not far from the army headquarters. The bomb followed the pattern of Maoist attacks, police say At the bomb site, dust filled the air and shards of glass filled the roadway outside the building. Many plate glass windows had been shattered or fallen away completely. A nearby stallholder said it had sounded as if the whole building was collapsing. Police told the BBC three young men had overpowered a security guard and run up the entrance staircase, leaving the explosive device by lifts. The men shouted to workers to leave the building, but moments later the bomb exploded. The building adjoins a rickshaw park and market and many of the injured were passengers and drivers of rickshaws. Most of those hurt were swiftly discharged from hospital although a few have been detained. Our correspondent says the blast was one of the capital's biggest and the first attack there since a nine-day truce expired 12 days ago. There was a second bomb explosion on Tuesday at a government building in the town of Bhaktapur, just east of Kathmandu, according to the police. Two people were reported to have been wounded in the incident, which the authorities are also blaming on the Maoists.