Kathmandu: Two powerful explosions rocked Nepal's capital today (Mar 23, 2004) injuring at least two persons even as security forces recovered 112 bodies of the rebels killed during Sunday's (Mar 21, 2004) clash in Beni Bazaar in the West of the kingdom.

Suspected Maoists exploded a pressure-cooker bomb at Kirtipur Municipality Corporation office in Kathmandu district at 6 am injuring a policeman. The building was partially damaged in the blast, police said.

Another bomb went off at Thamel, the major tourist area of Kathmandu, injuring one. The bomb went off at Kathmandu Municipal Corporation's ward no. 29 office at Thamel at 7 am, Municipal Corporation's Deputy Mayor Rajaram Shrestha said over phone.

A peon was injured in the explosion, he said, adding the office building was also damaged.

A third bomb planted by Maoists in front of a Maruti car showroom at Thapali, half a km away from the Army Headquarters, was defused, police said.

Meanwhile, Home Minister Kamal Thapa, after visiting Beni Bazaar where security forces claimed to have killed 500 rebels last Sunday, said 112 bodies of Maoists have been recovered from the area. Nepalese Army claimed as many as 500 rebels were killed in the encounter but Maoists said they had lost only 40 fighters.

The number of security forces killed during the fighting has reached 28, including 14 Army personnel, Government sources said. Earlier estimates said only 18 security personnel were killed in the attack.

Besides, 37 security personnel including the Chief District Officer and a Deputy Superintendent of Police have been abducted by the Maoists after the attack.

Thapa said 40 of the missing 92 security personnel had established contact.

According to the "Himalayan Times" daily the Maoists have said they would release the security personnel in exchange for the release of three of their leaders.

Thapa said that 2,500 Maoists were involved in the attack, most of them teenagers recruited by the Maoists.

He said the possibility of reviving talks with the rebels had become remote after the Beni Bazaar incident.

"By attacking the district headquarters the Maoists have distanced the possibility of resolving the crisis through peaceful negotiations," he said.