KATMANDU, Nepal (CNS) A powerful bomb exploded inside the Catholic Church of the Assumption in Katmandu, killing two Catholics and injuring several others. The blast, suspected to have been triggered by members of a Hindu extremist group, occurred as approximately 300 Catholics gathered for the weekly Mass at the church May 23, reported the Asian church news agency UCA News. The main weekly Mass in Nepal is celebrated on Saturday, because Sunday is a working day in the predominantly Hindu country.
"The blast was so powerful that it literally sent people flying," recalled parishioner Josh Niraula. "We were just 15 minutes into the Mass."
Leaflets belonging to a little-known Hindu group, the Nepal Defense Army, lay scattered all over the floor, leading people and the police to believe that the group was responsible for the blast. The same group has been blamed for the murder of Salesian Father John Prakash Moyalan in Sirsiya, in eastern Nepal, last year.
Father Silas Bogati, former parish priest of the Church of the Assumption and the director of the charitable agency Caritas Nepal, was celebrating Mass when the bomb went off because the parish priest had a death in his family.
"Although we had received threats over the phone from this group about six months ago, we took them lightly," Father Bogati told reporters at the scene. He refused to give details of the threats.
Arjun Jung Sahi, deputy inspector general of police, told reporters that the explosives were fitted inside a pressure cooker. Later, another police official told a press conference that investigations were under way.
Hindu and Muslim leaders reached the church soon after the blast to show solidarity with the Catholics.
