Kathmandu, June 6
At least 53 persons were killed today in perhaps the biggest civilian casualty in the nine years of the Maoist insurgency in Nepal when a landmine planted by the rebels blew a passenger bus to pieces.Over 100 persons were travelling in the private passenger bus heading towards Bharatpur, headquarters of Chitwan district in southern Nepal, near the Indian border. The mine ripped apart the bus as it was crossing a bridge over the Bandar Mude river in an area known as Mudhekhola in Kalyanpur village, killing 36 persons on the spot.
Seventeen persons who were critically injured died on the way to hospital, the state-run Radio Nepal reported.
Three of the victims were reported to be security personnel. Local agencies reported that an unspecified number of security personnel were on the bus.
Over 40 persons were reportedly injured in the explosion that stunned Kathmandu.
While some of the injured were taken to the Bharatpur hospital, the more seriously wounded were airlifted to Kathmandu for treatment.
The ambush comes even as the office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights started monitoring the situation in the kingdom, recording rights violations by both the government and communists insurgents.
The army has been trying to improve its rights record by announcing the court martial of security personnel found involved in extra-judicial killings and torture.
— IANS
