A teenage girl and a woman were killed and over a dozen others wounded when a bomb went off during Mass at the Church of Assumption in Dhobighat on the outskirts of Kathmandu, Nepal on Saturday 23 May. There were 150 people in the Church when the blast went off.

Extremists demanding an end to religious freedoms in Nepal are believed to have been behind the attack.

Caritas Nepal Director Fr. Silas Bogati was celebrating the Mass. He said, “We could never imagine that someone could carry out such a cowardly act and kill and injure so many people. In Nepal, we been having good religious harmony and some extremist group is trying to disturb this.”

Pamphlets from a small Hindu militant group called the National Defence Army were found at the scene. The group previously claimed responsibility for the killing of a priest in eastern Nepal last July. They’re fighting for the restoration the nation's Hindu monarchy that was abolished in 2008.

The attack has been condemned in Nepal by the incoming government, many of the political parties, human rights activists, and churches and faith groups.

The church organised joint prayers on Sunday for Christians, Hindus, Buddhists and Muslims. Fr. Bogati said, "We are holding prayers to show our solidarity and religious tolerance. We are also planning an all religious group rally this Sunday. The attack has created psychological fear among Christians. Some armed groups are trying to disturb religious harmony in Nepal but they will never be successful."

There is little history of religious conflict in Nepal, where more than 80 percent of the 27 million people are Hindu.

For more information, please contact Patrick Nicholson on 0039 334 359 0700 or nicholson@caritas.va