Kathmandu, Mar 06: Two people were hurt when a bomb exploded at a guesthouse in the Nepal capital's tourist district, officials said today. They said a policeman and a civilian were hurt in the blast at the down town guesthouse in Thamel area of Kathmandu late yesterday. ''There were no tourists (present) at the time of the blast,'' a police spokesman told a news agency. He said two men went to the massage parlour of the guesthouse and planted the bomb after asking staff to leave. Yesterday's blast, at the peak tourist season, is the latest in a string of attacks in Kathmandu blamed on Maoist rebels fighting to set up a communist republic in the world's only Hindu kingdom.

Violence has surged in Nepal since august, when peace talks failed amid a row over the future of monarchy.

Bureau Report