US embassy cable - 03KATHMANDU2245

UNCLAS KATHMANDU 002245 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR SA/INS, LONDON FOR POL/GURNEY, NSC FOR MILLARD 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PTER, MARR, NP, Maoist Insurgency 
SUBJECT: NEPAL: MAOISTS KILL ARMY BRIGADIER GENERAL 
 
REF: (A) KATHMANDU 1648 
 
1. Summary.  On November 15, Royal Nepal Army (RNA) Brigadier 
General Sagar Bahadur Pandey was killed after a Maoist-laid 
improvised explosive device (IED) detonated under his vehicle 
in Makwanpur District, south of Kathmandu.  Pandey is the 
highest-ranking military official to be killed during the 
seven-year-long insurgency.  It remains unclear whether the 
Maoists intentionally targeted General Pandey or whether he 
was a target of opportunity.  End Summary. 
 
2. On November 15 at approximately 1430 hours, an improvised 
explosive device (IED) detonated under an army vehicle, 
killing Brigadier General Sagar Bahadur Pandey, his wife, and 
three other soldiers.  The incident occurred in Makwanpur 
District, near the old highway that winds through the hills 
south from the Kathmandu Valley to the lowlands, or Terai. 
Earlier that day, General Pandey had visited a military 
ammunitions factory and was on his way to visit a second 
factory when the incident occurred. 
 
3. According to the Royal Nepal Army (RNA), General Pandey 
and his wife were riding in the second vehicle of a convoy of 
three large army trucks.  The IED reportedly was triggered 
directly underneath the second vehicle.  Army sources also 
indicate that the IED was not recently planted and was 
remotely-triggered, e.g., not triggered by the impact of the 
vehicles. 
 
4. Pandey was promoted to Brigadier General only four months 
ago and had been serving as the Director for Military 
Material Manufacturing.  RNA sources have indicated that 
Pandey was an engineer by training and responsible for 
developing Nepal's "Tora Bora" system for dropping mortar 
rounds from helicopters. 
 
5. Comment.  Brigadier General Pandey is the highest-ranking 
RNA official, following the death of Colonel Kirin Basnet in 
August (reftel), to be killed by the Maoists during the 
seven-year-long insurgency.  However, it remains unclear 
whether the Maoists knew that the General was part of the 
convoy or whether they attacked the trucks solely because of 
their military association.  In either case, General Pandey's 
death is likely to alarm many RNA senior officers, who 
typically travel with security details.  It also will be a 
shock to the Nepalese elite, of which Brigadier General 
Pandey most decidely was a member.  His father was a former 
Ambassador to India and his brothers are influential leaders 
in hydro-power development, banking, and in the RNA.  General 
Pandey was a close and long-time contact of this Embassy. 
Embassy DAO soon will provide further details and analysis of 
this incident.  End Comment. 
MALINOWSKI