Dang, June 28

A head constable saved hundreds of voters from a fatal bomb explosion when he threw the bomb back soon after somebody hurled it at a voting station when hundreds of voters were queuing up to cast their vote in Tulsipur Sub-metropolitan City of Dang during the second round of civic polls today.

Head constable Durga Bahadur Rana Magar hurled back a bomb targeted at the voting station into a pit which went off within a few seconds, causing no loss at all. The shell was hurled at Ambas polling centre at around 9:30am by an unidentified group to disrupt voting. However, the indomitable constable caught it and threw it into a pit in no time saving hundreds of people.

However, voting was not affected due to the incident. Though Nepali Army personnel reached the site soon after it went off, voting went on smoothly.

According to journalist Suresh Suman Dangi, who reached the spot, the bomb was hurled to disrupt the polls.  “If head constable Magar hadn’t hurl it into the ditch, many persons would sustain injuries and many others might have lost their lives as well,” said Dangi.

District Police Office Dang said that there was no human and infrastructure loss due to the boldness and alertness of the security personnel. “Though voters were terrified for a while,  voting resumed fearlessly without disruption,” said the DPO.

Meanwhile, a bomb exploded nearby Adarsha Parimary School polling centre in Ilam Municipality, at around 10:00am in Ilam today. However, it caused no damage and loss, said District Police Office Ilam.

Voting was disrupted for a while after the explosion. However, it resumed with the Nepal Army personnel observing the polling venue.