US embassy cable - 02KATHMANDU2490

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, Maoist Insurgency 
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