Two teenagers were injured when a socket bomb dating back to Nepal’s decade-long Maoist insurgency exploded as they tried to cut an old iron pipe in Odi village of Jumla district on Monday morning.
Odi was once home to the Maoists’ district office during the armed conflict, which lasted from 1996 to 2006. Police said the explosive inside the pipe dated back to that period.
The injured were identified as Bal Bahadur Rokaya, 14, and Kamal Thapa, 18, both from Hima Rural Municipality-2.
According to the District Police Office in Jumla, Thapa’s condition is normal, while Rokaya’s is more serious. Thapa is receiving treatment in the village, while Rokaya has been taken to Karnali Academy of Health Sciences Teaching Hospital in Jumla for further treatment.
Deputy Superintendent of Police Chiranjibi Dahal, chief of the district police office, said Rokaya had sustained serious injuries to the sole of his foot.
“The gunpowder inside the pipe caught fire while they were cutting it, triggering the socket bomb explosion,” Dahal said. “The pipe had been filled with gunpowder a long time ago. It exploded when they tried to cut it.”
The iron pipe was about 1.5 metres long and was being prepared for use in a drinking water tap when the gunpowder ignited. One end of the pipe was completely sealed.
The explosion has frightened residents of Odi. Resident Tara Bahadur Rokaya said the pipe had been kept inside a house and exploded as the teenagers tried to cut it to install it in a water tap.
According to him, the 60-millimetre iron pipe contained gunpowder, with one end open and the other completely sealed. The youths intended to cut through the sealed end before connecting it to the tap.
“The explosion occurred before they had cut halfway through the pipe,” he said.