Police foil Hindu extremist attack in downtown Kathmandu
Kathmandu
(AsiaNews) - The Nepalese police have foiled a plan by Hindu extremists to blow
up two cinemas and a bus in one of the most populated districts of Kathmandu. Investigators
learned of the plan during the interrogation of seven terrorists implicated in
the murder of Supreme Court judge Rana Bahadur Bam, last May 31, in Kathmandu.
The
mastermind of the attacks is Ram Prasad Mainali, leader of the Nepal Defense Army, in prison since
2009. According
to police, he used men he met in prison, to communicate with senior NDA still
at large on their release. The
targets were two cinemas located in the centre of Kathmandu, a and a bus and a
bus station in Biratnar (Eastern Nepal). Investigations
revealed that men to carry out the attack were trained in Qatar and Dubai
by Islamic extremists. The
also provided money, about 1500 euros, weapons and explosives. The
authorities call the discovery "disturbing" and have ordered new
security measures to prevent Mainali from communicating with the outside.
Kuber
Singh Rana, deputy inspector general of police and head of the investigation
into the murder of Judge Bahadur Bam, said that "if the bombs had not been
discovered in time, there ould have been many dead and wounded."
Political
instability, economic crisis and the absence of a written constitution have
caused a revival of the Hindu monarchy, that fell in 2007 after 11 years of
civil war and thousands of deaths. Bijaya
Kumar Gachhadar, Home Minister, has warned that "extremist groups are
exploiting the political chaos to infiltrate parliament". He ensures that the
government will do everything to defend the people, and especially religious
minorities, from other attacks, .
In
March 2011, Mainali had
planned a series of attacks against churches and public buildings, but in
this case the police also foiled the attacks thanks to the confession of a
member of the NDA. On
January 14, 2010 Mainali sent a letter to Christians and Muslims which asked
for forgiveness for the violence. The
police never believed in his repentance, an attempt to have his sentence reduced.
Until
2007, the NDA was an obscure group known to the authorities, but it has taken
centre stage in recent years with a series of terrorist activities including
murders, explosions and intimidation. Its
goal is to create was a Hindu-style state in Nepal. The
group is responsible for the attack at the Catholic cathedral of Kathmandu, in
2009, the attack on the Union Mission to Nepal, a Protestant organization. The extremists
are also accused of the killing of Fr. John
Prakash, rector of the Salesian
Sirsya School
(Morang), killed in July 2007.
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