An unidentified group detonated three improvised explosive devices at the powerhouse of under construction Arun III Hydropower Project in Sankhuwasabha district on Thursday.

Police Inspector Rameshwor Pandit said the IEDs were exploded at the powerhouse, around 150 meters from the hydropower office, in Pakhuwa of Chichila Rural Municipality-3 last night.

Chief District Officer Ganesh Bahadur Adhikari and DSP Shyam Saru Magar of the District Police Office reached the site to take additional information about the incident. A boomer and a generator have been damaged in the explosion, police said.

Inspector Pandit said they are searching for the group involved in carrying out the explosions. Security personnel from Nepal Police and Nepal Army have been mobilized at the incident site following blasts.

The incident site is five hours walk from the district headquarters, Khandbari. No one has claimed responsibility for the incident.

India’s SJVN has been carrying out the construction work at the plant. Last year in May, Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi had jointly laid the foundation stone for the project remotely during Modi’s Nepal visit.

More than 2,400 workers are currently working at the construction site. Among them, 1,700 are Nepali workers and technicians.

Investment Board Nepal and SJVN, an Indian government-owned entity, signed an agreement for the development of the Arun-3 project in November 2014. The project is slated to start producing energy by 2020.