NEPAL: MAOISTS BOMB SCHOOL DORMITORY, SEVEN INJURED

UNCLAS KATHMANDU 002490

SIPDIS

STATE FOR SA/INS
STATE ALSO PLEASE PASS USAID/DCHA/OFDA
USAID FOR ANE/AA GORDON WEST AND JIM BEVER
MANILA FOR USAID/DCHA/OFDA
LONDON FOR POL/REIDEL
TREASURY FOR GENERAL COUNSEL/DAUFHAUSER AND DAS JZARATE
TREASURY ALSO FOR OFAC/RNEWCOMB AND TASK FORCE ON TERRORIST
FINANCING
JUSTICE FOR OFFICE OF THE DEPUTY ATTORNEY GENERAL/DLAUFMAN

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PTER PHUM PGOV NP
SUBJECT: NEPAL: MAOISTS BOMB SCHOOL DORMITORY, SEVEN INJURED



1. Summary: Five children, a teacher and a secondary school
principal were injured when Maoists bombed an occupied school
dormitory in Kathmandu on the evening of December 27. The
attack was apparently aimed at the home of the Minister of
Education, and the local group of insurgents has apologized
for the 'accidental' student casualties. End summary.


2. On the evening of December 27, a bomb exploded near the
occupied dormitory of East Pole Secondary School in the
northeastern Jorpati area of Kathmandu Valley. Five
children, a teacher and the school principal were injured in
the blast, with the youngest victim only three years of age.
Security sources report that the bomb was planted near the
main entrance to the residence of Education Minister Devi
Prasad Ojha and was apparently intended to blow up the
Minister's parked car. The school dormitory is located on
the same compound as Ojha's house.


3. On December 28, Kathmandu newspapers reported that the
Valley Bureau of the Maoist Liberation Army had released a
statement claiming responsibility for the bombing, also
apologizing for the injuries, which were described as an
"accident." The press release promised compensation to the
school and the victims, to be delivered "in due time."


4. Comment: The apology released by the local branch of the
Maoists is academically interesting, but expressions of
remorse and promises of compensation by the insurgents are
far from credible. Maoist promises have repeatedly and
consistently been proven false. Unabated attacks on
mainstream party workers and infrastructure, despite the
leadership's December 3 pledge to call a moratorium, are only
the most recent examples. Claiming that the children
injured on December 27 were accidental casualties--collateral
damage of an attack on a GON official--does nothing to
obviate responsibility for yet another example of innocent
bystanders victimized by the Maoists' indiscriminate campaign
of terror.
MALINOWSKI