An unidentified group detonated an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) at the Indian Embassy camp office in Biratnagar Metropolitan City-13, Morang, on Monday night, police said.

The wall fencing the office, built during Koshi flooding in 2008 suffered minor damage in the blast. The IED went off in an open area behind the camp office.

“The motive behind the explosion is still not clear. Investigation is going on to find who were involved in the incident,” said Superintendent of Police Arun Kumar BC. Security personnel said the assailants detonated the explosives loaded in a pressure cooker.

The local administration strengthened security in the area after the blast.

A police officer involved in the investigation of the explosion suspects Netra Bikram Chand-led Communist Party of Nepal (CNP) might have been involved in the blast. The CNP, called banda in several districts in the east on Tuesday, demands releasing its leaders and cadres arrested by the government. The strike had little impact in the area. 

A section of India’s national media erroneously reported earlier today that the ‘blast took place in Kathmandu’. An official from the Indian Embassy in Kathmandu clarified the blast occured in Biratnagar and not at the embassy in Kathmandu.

Police arrest 10 CPN activists in Dharan

SUNSARI: Police arrested 10 CPN activists near Hariyali Community Forest area in Dharan on Tuesday. The detainees claimed themselves as the teachers affiliated to a teachers’ organisaton close to the CPN. Police said the detained CPN activists came to the area to attend a party event. According to DSP Rameshwor Paudel, the arrested CPN activists hail from Dailekh, Khotang, Taplejung, Ilam and Kathmandu. Investigation is underway, he added.