Nepal police step up searches after bomb blasts

Kathmandu, Sep 3: Nepali police searched pedestrians and vehicles in Kathmandu today, looking for clues after two people were killed and 26 wounded in a series of bomb blasts in the capital.

Three bombs went off almost simultaneously yesterday two near busy business areas in the heart of Kathmandu and one in a bus in a suburb the first attacks in the capital since a decade-long Maoist civil war ended more than a year ago.

The Terai Army, a little-known group of ethnic Madhesi rebels fighting for autonomy in the fertile southern plains of the Terai bordering India, and another previously unheard-of group Terai Utthan Sangat, claimed responsibility for the attacks.

''We have posted more police personnel in the city to ensure security,'' Home Ministry spokesman Baman Prasad Neupane said without giving details.

''They are carrying out searches of pedestrians and vehicles as investigations into the blasts continue.'' Security personnel were virtually withdrawn to barracks after last year's peace deal with Maoist rebels, ending a decade-long civil war that killed more than 13,000 people.

''I was stopped by police and searched three times in a distance of less than a kilometre,'' said Ramesh Baral, who works in a business firm in Kathmandu.

Groups of police wearing helmets and carrying rattan sticks were posted at key spots around city.

At least 60 people have been killed this year in violence sparked by ethnic Madhesi rebel groups demanding more government jobs, seats in parliament and regional autonomy for the southern plains.

Last week, the government struck a peace deal with the main Madhesi group, but many other rebel groups still operate.

During the civil war Maoists often planted bombs in Kathmandu but life had almost returned to normal this year.

Nepal is due to hold elections in November for a special assembly to draft a new constitution and decide the fate of the monarchy, part of a deal with Maoists.

The government says bomb blasts were a ''serious conspiracy aimed at derailing'' the elections.

REUTERS>