A series of coordinated bomb blasts occurred on 20 June 1985 in

Kathmandu , pushpin_map = Nepal Bagmati Province#Nepal#Asia , coordinates = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = , subdivision_type1 = Province , subdivision_name1 = Bagmati Prov ...

and other cities in

Nepal Nepal (; ne, नेपाल ), formerly the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal ( ne, सङ्घीय लोकतान्त्रिक गणतन्त्र नेपाल ), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is mai ...

.Bowman, John Stewart.
Columbia Chronologies of Asian History and Culture
'. New York: Columbia University Press, 2000. p. 398webindia123.

'Asia Watch Committee (U.S.).
Human Rights Violations in Nepal
'. New York, NY: Asia Watch Committee, Human Rights Watch, 1989. p. 25 This spate of bomb attacks was the first of its kind in the country. In total, at least eight people (including a Member of Parliament) were killed. Several people were injured.

Kathmandu

In Kathmandu bombs went off at the

Royal Palace This is a list of royal palaces, sorted by continent. Africa * Abdin Palace, Cairo * Al-Gawhara Palace, Cairo * Koubbeh Palace, Cairo * Tahra Palace, Cairo * Menelik Palace * Jubilee Palace * Guenete Leul Palace * Imperial Palace- Massa ...

(southern and western gates), the reception hall of Hotel de l'Annapura (owned by the royal family), at the main gate of the

National Panchayat Rastriya Panchayat was the official legislature (parliament) during the Panchayat regime of Nepal that effectively functioned from 1960 to 1990. Its head office was at the ''"Gallery Baithak"'' in Singha Durbar, Kathmandu. In the 1980s, it co ...

Secretariat and Singh Durbar.

Other parts of the country

Outside of Kathmandu, bombs detonated in Jhapa,

Pokhara Pokhara ( ne, पोखरा, ) is a metropolis, metropolitan city in Nepal, which serves as the capital of Gandaki Province. It is the List of cities in Nepal, second most populous city of Nepal after Kathmandu, with 518,452 inhabitants living ...

Biratnagar Biratnagar () is a metropolitan city in Nepal, which serves as the capital of Province No. 1. With a population of 242,548 as per the 2011 census, it is the largest city in the province and also the headquarters of Morang district. As per the p ...

, Janakpur,

Birgunj Birgunj ( ne, वीरगञ्ज) is a metropolitan city in Parsa District in Madhesh Province of southern Nepal. It lies south of the capital Kathmandu, attached in the north to Raxaul in the border of the Indian state of Bihar. As an entr ...

, Mahendranagar,

Nepalganj Nepalgunj (), also spelled Nepalganj, is a Sub-Metropolitan City in Banke District, Nepal. It lies on the Terai plains near the southern border with Bahraich district in Uttar Pradesh, India. Nepalgunj is 153 kilometers south-west of Ghorahi ...

and at

Bhairahawa Airport Gautam Buddha International Airport , also known as Bhairahawa Airport, is an international airport located in Siddharthanagar (formerly and colloquially still called Bhairahawa) serving Lumbini in Lumbini Province, as well as the Butwal﹣Siddh ...

Aftermath

Two exiled groups claimed responsibility for the bombings. One of the groups claiming responsibility was the

Nepal Janabadi Morcha Nepal Janabadi Morcha (NJM; lit. ''Nepal Democratic Front'') is a leftwing political movement in Nepal. The group was founded in 1976, and worked clandestinely during the panchayat regime. Its chairman Ram Raja Prasad Singh lived in exile in India. ...

Ram Raja Prasad Singh Ram Raja Prasad Singh ( ne, राम राजा प्रसाद सिंह) (1936 – 12 September 2012) was a Nepalese politician. In July 2008, Singh was proposed by the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist), a Nepalese political party which ...

.Dangol, Sanu Bhai.
The Palace in Nepalese Politics: With Special Reference to the Politics of 1951 to 1990
'. Kathmandu: Ratna Pustak Bhandar, 1999. pp. 128-129 In the aftermath of the bombings mass arrests took place (according to one source some 1,400 people were arrested). Singh and Laxman Prasad Singh were sentenced to death ''in absentia'';

Khema Raj Mayalu Khem Raj Bhatta Mayalu is a Nepalese politician. He is a member of the Nepali Congress (NC) party, the successor party to Nepali Congress (Democratic) C(D)of which he had also been a member while it existed. (The two—formerly split—parties r ...

was sentenced to life imprisonment.Tripathi, Hari Bansh.
Fundamental Rights and Judicial Review in Nepal: (Evolution & Experiments)
'. Kathmandu: Pairavi Prakashan, 2002. p. 116 Five other NJM leaders were caught and died in custody. The government launched a new strict criminal law in response to the bombings, the Destructive Crimes (Special Control and Punishment) Act. The bombings also prompted the mainstream opposition, the Nepali Congress, to call off its

satyagraha Satyagraha ( sa, सत्याग्रह; ''satya'': "truth", ''āgraha'': "insistence" or "holding firmly to"), or "holding firmly to truth",' or "truth force", is a particular form of nonviolent resistance or civil resistance. Someone w ...

(civil disobedience) campaign that had been launched on May 23, 1985.Brown, T. Louise.
The Challenge to Democracy in Nepal: A Political History
'. London: Routledge, 1996. p. 98 At the time, there were persistent rumours that monarchist hardliners could have been involved in the incidents, in order to discredit the ongoing civil opposition campaign.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nepal bombing Improvised explosive device bombings in Asia Mass murder in 1985 1985 crimes in Nepal History of Kathmandu Terrorist incidents in Nepal Terrorist incidents in Asia in 1985 History of Nepal (1951–2008) Building bombings in Asia