Bomb planted in a passenger bus defused

KATHMANDU, May 2: Situation in Lokathali area near Manahara Bridge along Araniko Highway in Bhaktapur remained tense almost for four hours Saturday afternoon after a stray bomb was noticed there.



A large number of locals gathered to see the bomb disposal works.






Locals had informed police about the time-bomb equipped with metal pipe, battery and other devices at about 11 p.m. A bomb disposal squad of Nepal Police defused the bomb at about 2:15 p.m. A separate bomb disposal team of Armed Police Force (APF) had also reached there for help.



“We found that it was a time-bomb,” said Superintendent of Police Pushpa Chandra Ranjit, chief of Metropolitan Police Range Office, Bhaktapur. ´The bomb did not go off due to some technical snag.”






Eyewitness said the bomb was planted by an unidentified armed group inside a passenger bus that arrived in Kathmandu on Saturday from Janakpur. The armed group had informed about the bomb over phone to the bus owner.



The helper of the bus had thrown the explosive device on to open ground near Manahara Bridge after receiving a call from the owner. Until then, the staff were unaware of the bomb in the bus.