Small bombs go off outside 2 Nepal schools; no injuries

KATHMANDU, Nepal – Small bombs exploded outside two schools in Nepal’s capital on Tuesday morning, but no injuries and only minor damage were reported, officials said. Unexploded bombs were found at five other schools in the city.

The explosions took place outside the gates of two schools for students from grades 1 to 10, said police official Bikram Singh Thapa. The unexploded devices found in front of five other schools in Kathmandu were either detonated or removed.

Police arrested two people suspected of being behind the blasts, Thapa said. Police found pamphlets near the blast sites and attached to the unexploded devices from a little-known group demanding free education for all Nepalese children.

Thapa said that no injuries were reported, and that the explosions caused minor damage to the schools’ gates.

Security and police surveillance were stepped up around schools in Kathmandu. School officials were to meet later Tuesday with government education officials to discuss the attacks.

While education is mostly free in Nepal’s public schools, the teachers are poorly paid and the infrastructure is substandard, leading most children in the cities to attend private schools.