Bomb blast in a train injures 29 in southern Nepal

May 17, 2009, 10:30 GMT

Kathmandu - At least 29 people were injured when a bomb exploded on a train in southern Nepal on Sunday, police said.

The explosion ripped through a passenger compartment of the country's only railway service near the town of Janakpur, about 250 kilometres east of the capital Kathmandu.

Officials from the district police office in Dhanusha said the explosion occurred when the train was rolling into Parwaha station. Although there was no claim of responsibility for the attack, police said they suspected armed insurgent groups operating in the area.

A least one of the injured was reported to be in critical condition at a hospital in Janakpur town.

The train had been on its way to Janakpur from the Indian border town of Jayanagar in the state of Bihar.

In the past, insurgent groups in the southern Nepalese plains known as Terai have carried out indiscriminate bomb attacks across several towns in the region.

Nearly two dozen armed groups operate in the region and have been accused by the government and human rights groups of murder, abduction and extortion.

In October 2008, the Nepalese government formally invited the armed groups for peace talks but only a few of them accept the government offer.

Over 250 people have died in the violence in southern Nepal since the beginning of 2007.