38 killed, dozens wounded, after bus hits rebel land mine

Maoist insurgents detonated a powerful land mine beneath a crowded bus today in rural Nepal, killing at least 38 people and wounding dozens more in one of the bloodiest attacks against civilians since the insurgency broke out nearly a decade ago, officials said.

The attack came with no warning in an area many believed to be relatively safe from insurgent attacks, and it was unclear why the bus was targeted.

The bus was travelling on a rural road near the southern village of Badarmude when it was ripped apart by the explosion, army officials in the area and in Kathmandu said. Army officials are not allowed to reveal their names for policy and security reasons.

The rebels used a 250-metre wire to trigger the blast, one official said, adding the initial investigation indicated the rebel who set off the explosion was hiding behind a tree.

Thirty-eight people died and 71 others were wounded, the official said. Everyone on the bus, he noted, was either killed or injured.

A local hospital was overwhelmed with patients and didn’t have enough doctors to perform surgeries, a reporter, Prabhakar Ghimire, said by telephone from Bharatpur, a nearby town. The injured passengers said they had no indication they would come under attack on the rural road.

Some of the injured have been flown by army helicopters to Kathmandu and were being treated at the army hospital.

“There was a small bang and then our bus was thrown in the air. The bus was ripped into pieces and many people were killed,” said Khum Bahadur Gurung, 62, who spoke from his hospital bed. Gurung’s legs were injured in the explosion.

The bus was crossing a wooden bridge when the mine was detonated. The bus was thrown up in the air and landed beside the highway on the banks of the Mude river.

Gurung said parts of the bus were scattered across the river bank, and many of the bodies had been charred.

Buses in the poor area are usually crowded, with most people having to stand in the aisles or even travel on the roof.

The rural highway and the bridge were covered with gravel, making it easy for the rebels to hide the land mine.

The army insisted the attack was the work of Maoist rebels who have been fighting since 1996 to abolish Nepal’s constitutional monarchy and set up a communist state. They provided no details, however.

The rebels have not commented on the incident and remain out of reach in their mountain bases.

Although the rebels have repeatedly said in the past that they do not target civilians, they have attacked civilian passenger buses that defied their calls for transportation strikes.

But there was no strike or blockade called by the rebels in the area this week, and it was unclear why the mine was planted on that section of highway.

Officials said there were three off-duty soldiers on the bus but they were unarmed and returning to duty.

The area, a particularly remote region in southern Nepal, does not have a history of rebel activity. However, there is a strong rebel presence in neighbouring areas.

The guerrillas have stepped up violence since February 1, when King Gyanendra took control of the government and imposed a state of emergency that was lifted in April.

Government troops moved in after the blast, searching for rebels and taking control of the area 110 miles south-west of the capital Kathmandu, according to army headquarters.

King Gyanendra has said his February power grab was necessary to quell the communist insurgency, which has left more than 11,500 people dead since 1996.

The rebels, who claim to be inspired by Chinese revolutionary Mao Zedong, responded by shutting down highways and calling a general strike.

They have repeatedly refused government calls for peace talks.