S P O T L I G H T

Bomb explosion at VHP leader’s house
Gorakhpur, March 12
Two powerful country-made bombs exploded at the home of Vishwa Hindu Parishad’s Awadh Prant Vice-President Pushpdant Jain in the Diwan Bazar area under kotwali police circle here this morning. According to the police, two bombs, aimed at the bedroom of Mr Jain’s house, were thrown but one fell on a scooter parked on the premises, damaging it badly, while the other missed the bedroom window and hit the adjacent wall instead. The miscreants who hurled the bombs reportedly fled the scene even before the Jain family members could realise what had happened. UNI

16 Maoists killed
Kathmandu, March 12
At least 16 armed Maoist insurgents were yesterday gunned down by the security forces in various parts of Nepal, a Defence Ministry statement said today. At least six rebels were killed in Kalikot district, four in Salyan, three in Bardia (western Nepal) and three others in other districts. The security forces also seized large quantities of explosives from them. UNI

Priest shot dead
Washington, March 12
A man fatally shot a Catholic priest and a female parishioner today in a New York church and then fled to a house where he remained holed up in a standoff with the police, news reports said. An off-duty police officer chased the gunman after the shooting and wrested a rifle from him, but the suspect was able to escape to a nearby building, apparently his home, the police told CNN. The 50-year-old priest was shot during morning Mass at Our Lady of Peace Church on Long Island and a woman in her 70s also died of a gunshot wound to the head, the CNN reported. DPA

Jailer shot
Jamshedpur, March 12
Sakchi jailer Uma Shankar Pandey was today gunned down by two miscreants inside the jail premises here. Superintendent of Sakchi Jail Ashok Kumar Chowdhury said the motor-cycle borne attackers, Akhileshwar Singh and Santosh Pathak, carrying sophisticated weapons came at around 7 am and fired at Mr Pandey. While Akhileshwar Singh managed to escape, Pathak was caught and beaten up by an irate mob. He was admitted to MGM Hospital here in a critical condition. UNI

Arson, looting in Gujarat town
Baroda, March 12 
In fresh outbreak of communal violence, a mob of tribals indulged in arson and looting in Kawant town of Gujarat’s Baroda district prompting the police to open fire and impose curfew. There was no casualty in the firing, the police said. District Collector Bhagyesh Jha said curfew had been clamped on the town from this evening. The police first lobbed several teargas shells to quell the mob, which set ablaze four houses, and then fired three rounds, the police said. PTI