(CEHURDES/IFEX) – On 20 November 2004, a socket bomb exploded in the offices of the Triyuga Offset Printing Press in Anamnagar, Kathmandu. Communist Party of Nepal (CPN-Maoist) rebels are suspected of being behind the explosion, which caused damage to the toilet in the building and the windows of six neighbouring houses. Triyuga Offset Printing Press […]
(CEHURDES/IFEX) – On 20 November 2004, a socket bomb exploded in the offices of the Triyuga Offset Printing Press in Anamnagar, Kathmandu. Communist Party of Nepal (CPN-Maoist) rebels are suspected of being behind the explosion, which caused damage to the toilet in the building and the windows of six neighbouring houses. Triyuga Offset Printing Press is situated next to the Asia Pacific Communication Association (APCA) building. The APCA publishes the dailies “Annapurna Post” and “The Himalayan Times”. A Royal Nepal Army squad defused another socket bomb planted in the press’s offices. According to CEHURDES’s sources, there were no reports of casualties and CPN-Maoists have not claimed responsibility for the blast.
In a separate incident, on 20 November, Royal Nepal Army soldiers stationed to the Shivadal battalion brutally assaulted journalist Prakash Pokhrel, of the state-owned Radio Nepal station, in Baletaksar, Gulmi district, western Nepal. Pokhrel is a producer and director of the “Samaya Chakra” radio programme. He had recently visited parts of Gulmi district to collect news related to the conflict.
CEHURDES condemns the bombing of the printing press’s offices and the attack on Pokhrel. The organisation urges all parties to cease all attacks against media offices, journalists and free expression activists.
