Nuwakot,
June 12
Cadres of the Biplav-led CPN-Maoist torched a vehicle belonging to World Vision International’s Nuwakot district office based in Battar-4 last night (at around 12.30 am). The Maoist party has owned up to the act.
Tul Bahadur Pyakurel, security guard at the INGO, said Maoist cadres set the vehicle afire after threatening to kill him if he ‘made noise’. Shiva Prasad Adhikari, a neighbour, said they took the situation under control fearing further spread of the fire, 45 minutes after the Maoists torched the vehicle. Using a rope, we pulled the vehicle out of the office compound, he said. Thereafter, a fire engine was mobilised to control the fire that had also spread in the building housing the NGO.
The windows of the house and some other external parts have suffered damage in the blaze. The office documents and other stuffs are safe, Devendra Prasad Gurung of the NGO said. Police and neighbours had moved people trapped in the second and third floors of the house to neighbouring houses using ladders.
Krishna Prasad Adhikari, the house owner, said he could rescue trapped family members only an hour after the fire spread from the vehicle. A Biplav Maoist leader said his party has taken responsibility for the arson attack. But the leader did not cite any reason behind the act.
