Nepal Maoists bomb restaurant, ransack radio station

The restaurant was almost empty at the time of the blast in Pokhara, 200 km west of Kathmandu, a police officer said.

"There is the possibility of the terrorists stepping up attacks, kidnappings, extortions, and setting up road blocks to show their presence," an army officer told reporters on Friday.

The guerrillas want to overthrow the world's only Hindu monarchy and close to 12,000 people have died in the conflict since it started in 1996.