KATHMANDU (Reuters) - Maoist rebels struck in the heart of Nepal on Thursday, bombing a Coca-Cola plant in the capital, as anxiety mounted about more guerrilla attacks.
Maoist rebels seeking to set up a communist republic bombed the bottling plant in Kathmandu at dawn, blowing off the roof and shattering windows but causing no casualties.
The attack came on the third full day of an army offensive against the rebels ordered by King Gyanendra. He also gave security forces sweeping detention powers and curbed free speech and movement.
``The current crisis in the country will be over soon,'' state radio quoted Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba as saying.
But his comments did little to reassure Nepalis worried about where the Maoists would strike next after they launched a spate of weekend attacks on police and army posts across Nepal.
Outside the capital, the army was combing the densely forested, treacherous mountains of eastern and western Nepal, where the rebels were strongest, trying to hunt them down.
Officials said the army had encircled a rebel stronghold in Nuwagaon in western Nepal. ``It is a large area, we are closing in on them slowly,'' Defense Secretary Padam Kumar Acharya said.