Nepal: Blast injures 3 children, police suspect Maoist hand

Kathmandu: A bomb explosion near a polling booth here left three children, including two girls, injured today as people voted to elect Nepal’s Constituent Assembly and end the political uncertainty in the country. The incident occurred in Bhotebahal area of the capital when a child while playing football near an election booth recovered an object and it exploded as soon as he touched, police said. The police suspect the involvement of CPN-Maoist cadres in the blast. [caption id=“attachment_1237203” align=“alignright” width=“380”]  A Nepal election commission officer gets ready to deliver ballot boxes to different polling booths in Katmandu, Nepal. AP[/caption] The Maoists have called for a boycott of the Constituent Assembly elections and launched violent protests to disrupt the polls. The CPN-Maoist, led by Mohan Vaidya, has called a nine-day nationwide transport strike that is effective till today. Two sisters, aged 5 and 8 and a 7-year-old boy were injured in the blast, Nepal Police spokesman Ganesh Khatrchhetri said. The boy lost fingers of his right hand and the two other girls playing with him sustained minor injuries. They were rushed to a nearby hospital by the police. An explosion also took place last evening in Ravibhawan area of the capital which left two people injured. The blast took place when a bomb accidentally went off. Two Maoists who were in possession of the bomb were injured. The police has rounded up about 42 Maoist cadres involved in the acts of violence and terror on the eve of the election, the police said. Apart from stray incidents, in most areas, people cast their votes in a peaceful environment amid tight security. People queued up from early in the morning outside polling centres here. The voter turnout was good in most of the polling centres of Kathmandu in the morning, a poll observer said. People were casting their votes in 18,400 polling stations across Nepal to elect 601-member Constituent Assembly. PTI