US embassy cable - 02KATHMANDU376

UNCLAS KATHMANDU 000376 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
STATE FOR SA/INS AND DS/OP/NEA 
 
LONDON FOR POL/RIEGEL 
 
E.O. 12958:    N/A 
TAGS: PTER, PGOV, NP, Maoist Insurgency 
SUBJECT: ONE FEARED DEAD IN BOMB EXPLOSION, ARSON AT 
KATHMANDU LAND REVENUE OFFICE 
 
REF(S):  (A)  KATHMANDU 0340; (B) 01 KATHMANDU 2331 
 
1. (U)  Suspected Maoists set fire to files and set off 
a timed explosive device at a Kathmandu Land Revenue 
Office a little after 10:00 a.m. on February 15.  Four 
people, including a police officer attempting to 
extinguish the fire were injured.  Embassy has heard 
unconfirmed reports that at least one of the injured 
subsequently died in the hospital of his injuries. 
 
2.  (U) According to our most recent information, about 
three or four individuals, at least one armed with a 
pistol, entered the Land Revenue Office a little after 
10:00 a.m., the start of the business day in Nepal. 
While the armed individual held occupants of the office 
at bay, the other intruders poured kerosene or another 
accelerant on land records and other files and ignited 
them.  Before leaving the office, the intruders set a 
timed improvised device made with gelatine explosives, 
which detonated shortly thereafter. The Land Revenue 
Office is located a little more than one kilometer from 
the USAID Mission and Lincoln International School, 
which most dependent children in the Mission attend. 
 
3.  (SBU)  Comment:  Land Revenue offices and other 
outposts of central government authority have long been 
favorite Maoist targets in the hinterlands.  This most 
recent incident and the Feb. 11 bombing of a Kathmandu 
tax office (Ref A) indicate the Maoists are bringing the 
fight out of the districts and into the capital.  Bombs 
have been set off in the capital before, but most, like 
the bomb at the Coca-Cola facility (Ref B), were set 
outside of working hours.  (The December 3 bombing that 
killed two at a Kathmandu carpet factory is an 
exception.)  That the Maoists are now willing to carry 
out such attacks during working hours--and that they can 
slip by the heightened security cordon around the city 
with explosive devices and arms in broad daylight--marks 
a disturbing new development in this seven-year-old 
insurgency. 
 
Malinowski