Surkhet, February 11

Improvised explosive devices went off at the offices of the Indian company GMR, investor of Upper Karnali Hydro Project, in Surkhet and Dailekh last night.

Police said explosive devices were detonated at GMR’s contact office in Birendranagar of Surkhet and field office at Dab of Dailekh at around 10:00pm. No human casualty was reported in the incidents.

APF personnel reached the site immediately after the explosion. The GMR said walls, security check post and other structures sustained damage and Dailkeh’s Dab office Engineer Kshetra Narayan Khatri said the compound wall and wall of the residential building suffered damage.

Police surmise that Netra Bikram Chand-led Nepal Communist Party might have detonated the bomb. NCP cadres had been involved in attacking vehicles and shouting slogans against the project.

SP Uma Prasad Chaturwedi said no one had yet claimed responsibility for the blast. “We suspect the NCP cadres’ involvement in the blasts,” he said. Police arrested 3 NCP cadres suspecting their involvement. APF personnel have been assigned to provide security to Upper Karnali Hydro Project (900 MW). More than 70 APF led by a DSP have been deployed to the project site.