At least seven people were injured today when a bomb planted by suspected Maoist rebels exploded outside one of Nepal's major state-run companies.
The bomb went off at a bus stop outside the National Trading Corporation in the heart of the capital Kathmandu.
"At least seven people are injured, four of them seriously. No one has been arrested yet but we suspect this is the work of Maoist terrorists," said a spokesman for the home ministry.
The National Trading Corporation is Nepal's main import-export body. Police units were deployed to the site of the blast to comb for further explosives.
The Maoists, who are fervently anti-capitalist, have been fighting since 1996 to topple the constitutional monarchy.
In recent months the rebels have planted dozens of small-scale bombs in Kathmandu, most causing no casualties.
Their last fatal bombing was October 12th, when one person was killed and eight injured in the bombing of a statue of late king Mahendra, the father of current monarch Gyanendra.
More than 5,000 people have died since the Maoists declared their "people's war," according to official estimates.
AFP