By DPA,
Kathmandu : At least two people were killed and more than a dozen injured when a powerful explosion ripped through a bus stop in Nepal’s restive southern plains, media reports said Sunday.
The blast happened as people were waiting for a bus in the town of Nijgarh in Rautahat district, about 120 km south-east of capital Kathmandu late Saturday evening, Kantipur daily newspaper said.
“Two people died of their wounds while being rushed to a hospital while at least 13 people including four children were wounded by the blast,” the newspaper said.
The blast was caused by a time bomb which was hidden in a sack of wheat, the newspaper quoted the police as saying.
“There was panic in Nijgarh town after the blast and people shut down their shops and the roads were deserted,” the newspaper said.
A fringe separatist group calling itself the “Terai Army” claimed responsibility for the bombing.
Police said the group was involved in several abductions, murder and bomb attacks against government offices and employees in the Terai plains.
Several armed groups in southern Nepal are still active despite the country’s move towards peace.
Terai Army has rejected the April elections which elected a constituent assembly to draft the country’s new constitution and is demanding a separate state for the ethnic Madhesi community.
It has alleged discrimination by people from hill districts of Nepal who have traditionally led the government in Kathmandu against the ethnic Madhesi people.
The group also called a five-day general strike along the highway to press their demands.
Attempts by the Nepali government to bring the armed groups to peace negotiations have so far failed.