September 2, 2002	Monday	Jamadi-us-Saani23,1423

KATHMANDU, Sept 1: Suspected Maoist rebels detonated two bombs in the Nepalese capital early on Sunday, injuring one person, while other insurgents torched and damaged more than 20 cars in a showroom, police and witnesses said.

“A bomb, which was placed inside an ambulance, went off at Kalimati, in Kathmandu,” a witness told AFP. The bomb exploded while police were trying to defuse it after a tip off but there were no casualties.

A man was injured when a second bomb went off near a vehicle sales office at Tripureshwor in Kathmandu.

“A bomb went off near the gate of the vehicle buy and sale office this morning,” social worker Mahendra Dhakal, 30, told AFP.

“I was slightly injured as I was standing near the bomb when it went off,” he said.

The explosion shattered windows in four nearby houses.

Police said they suspected Maoists were behind the blasts, which were the latest of a series to rock the capital and surrounding area.

On Friday a bomb went off in Patan town on the outskirts of Kathmandu frightening devotees at a temple but causing little damage. Another bomb was defused by security personnel near the temple before it could explode, police said.

On Thursday a soldier was killed as he was trying to defuse a bomb just hours after a state of emergency, imposed to combat the rebels, was lifted for the first time in 10 months, police said.

In another incident early Sunday, around a dozen suspected rebels entered the Tej and Karan car show room in Tripureshwor, shouting “We are Maoists”, and began smashing 21 new cars, witnesses said.

“A few of them poured petrol on several cars and set them on fire while others smashed the windscreens of the brand new cars parked inside,” said Dhakal, who lives nearby.