UN envoy speaks out against attacks in Nepalese capital

The top United Nations envoy to Nepal today condemned a series of bomb blasts which struck Kathmandu, resulting in a number of casualties.

"The United Nations expresses its condemnation of the bomb attacks which have killed and injured Kathmandu citizens," Special Representative of the Secretary-General Ian Martin said in a statement.

"The Nepalese have shown a great capacity to resolve difficult issues through peaceful dialogue, and I have no doubt that acts of terror will discredit whatever cause they are claimed to promote," said Mr. Martin, who is also head of the UN Mission in Nepal (UNMIN).

According to media reports, at least two people were killed and more than two dozen others injured following three blasts that took place aboard a minibus packed with commuters, at a bus stop in the busy city centre and outside army headquarters.

The attacks came just days after the Special Representative appealed for an end to violence ahead of November's Constituent Assembly elections.

Late last year, the Government and rebel Maoists signed a peace accord ending a decade-long armed conflict that killed some 13,000 people in the Himalayan nation.