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28 March 2024

Bomb explodes outside hospital in Nepal capital

Published
By Agencies

 

A small bomb exploded outside a hospital in Nepal's capital on Wednesday, less than 24 hours before the country is due to begin landmark polls that will decide its political future, police said.


"A minor bomb was set off outside Bir Hospital, but no one was injured," Hom Jung Chauhan, a senior police officer at the scene, told AFP.

Thursday's polls are to elect a body whose first act will be to abolish Nepal's 240-year-old monarchy, but violence has marred the run-up to the elections.

On Tuesday night, police shot and killed seven Maoist supporters in the country's west while, in a separate incident, an election candidate was shot and killed by unknown assailants.

The polls are the climax of a 2006 peace deal between Nepal's former rebel Maoists and mainstream parties who came to power after protests forced King Gyanendra to end 14 months of direct rule.
 
The Maoists have repeatedly accused royalists of carrying out attacks to try and derail the polls. (AFP)