JUNE 3, 2005
Posted: June 9, 2005
Nepal Telecom Company
ATTACKED
Armed Maoist rebels destroyed a telecommunication tower in Chinchu in the Midwestern district of Surkhet by detonating a pipe bomb late at night, according to local press accounts. Local phone service has been disrupted.
The tower carried hundreds of local phone lines and its destruction has cut off the region from the rest of the country making it impossible for local journalists to transmit news stories by phone or fax.
Local sources say that the area is known to be rife with Maoist activity. The rebels have frequently targeted telecommunication towers, television towers, bridges, power stations, and other so-called “soft targets” that are government-owned since they began fighting against the Nepalese monarchy in 1996.