Скачать или смотреть Bomb expodes near political rally, 5 injured, aftermath

(14 Jan 2008)
1. Police vehicle on street in area where bomb exploded
2. Police in another vehicle
3. People gathered outside Bir Hospital emergency department where the injured were taken
4. People waiting outside the hospital
5. SOUNDBITE (Nepali) Vox pop, Torang Gurung, injured in blast:
"We had come for the rally and were on the way back. Something hit the bus suddenly and only after the blast did we realise it was a bomb attack."
6. Mid of two men standing outside hospital entrance
7. Arjun Narsingh, Nepali Congress Party spokesman, talking to Gurung
8. Injured 15-year-old Dipesh Nepal in bed being treated
9. People looking at list of the injured outside the hospital
10. Wide of the exterior of the hospital
STORYLINE:
A bomb exploded in Katmandu on Monday near a mass political rally where thousands of supporters of Nepal's main political parties had gathered to mark the start of campaigning for elections, police said.
No one was killed, but five people were wounded in the blast, a police official said.
Police were interviewing witnesses who saw a person throw the bomb out of a car and into the crowd as it was breaking up.
No one has claimed responsibility.
To mark the start of the election campaign, 50-thousand people marched through Katmandu and gathered at the rally grounds in the heart of city.
They included supporters of the seven political parties in the ruling coalition, including former communist rebels widely known as Maoists.
The bomb exploded just 160 feet (50 metres) away from the crowd, which included top leaders of the main political parties in Nepal.
The injured were taken to nearby Bir Hospital.
"We had come for the rally and were on the way back. Something hit the bus suddenly and only after the blast did we realise it was a bomb attack," said one of the injured, Torang Gurung.
Dipesh Nepal, a 15-year-old witness who was also injured, said the attack came after the rally.
The government announced last week that polls to elect a Constituent Assembly to map the country's political future would be held April 10.
The election is a key part of Nepal's peace process, which saw the rebels give up a decade-long armed revolt.
The assembly will rewrite Nepal's constitution and decide on a new political system for the Himalayan nation.
The elections were a key stage agreed to in the 2006 peace process to end the Maoists' decade-long communist insurgency that left more than 13-thousand people dead.

Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork
Twitter:   / ap_archive  
Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​
Instagram:   / apnews  


You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...