Panauti (Kavre), February 8:

The Panauti attacks have left the locals a terrified lot. Recalling the attacks launched by the Maoists on Monday night, Ganesh Timilsina, a resident of Panauti Municipality-5, said, “I fear going to bed. There might again be bombardment and firing.”

Timilsina said he could sleep only this afternoon since the attacks on Panauti municipality.

“Even though I took the nap, I could not come out of the nightmare,” Timilsina added.

Residents of Panauti went to bed only on yesterday afternoon, as the Maoist-launched attacks on the building of the Panauti municipality and the Gorakhnath base camp lasted till 04:00 am. The people, who were having dinner at the time of the attacks and docked themselves under beds and staircases to protect themselves from raining bullets and bombardment, feel fortunate to be alive.

“I heard a massive explosion when I was about to enter my home after gardening”, Muna Shrestha, a local of the Panauti municipality, told journalists, who were on a visit to the Panauti municipality, today.

“I have not been able to control my heartbeat. As I fear to go to bed at night, I have been trying to take forty winks during the daytime.”

The terrified residents of Panauti, who could not wink their eyes due to the attacks, go to bed during daytime after tending their fields. Fearing attacks, they lay awake at night.

“Everyone worries to get to his home safely as the sun sets.

“Even the sound of a door being shut gives us an impression as if it was an explosion,” she further said.

At least five people were killed when the Maoists attacked the security base camp under the Gorakhnath base camp of the Royal Nepal Army and the office of the Panauti municipality. The Maoists had first attacked the municipality office at 8:30 am pm.

The clashes that ensued after the attacks had also left 11 security personnel injured.

Binod Jung Thapa, chief of the battalion, had told reporters that army constable Rabin Shrestha and a policemen, Raju Silwal, were killed in the attack attack on the municipality office.