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Maoists bomb second Coca-Cola plant in Nepal

Maoist rebels set off a powerful bomb at a Coca-Cola bottling plant in southern Nepal in the second such incident in past months, officials said on Wednesday.

No one was injured in the explosion late on Tuesday at the plant in Bharatpur, south of Kathmandu, but the building belonging to the US drinks giant was badly damaged, reports said.

"The powerful explosion ... caused houses within 200 metres of the factory to develop cracks while all the window panes were shattered," the Nepali language Kantipur newspaper said.

Home ministry officials confirmed the explosion, but said no significant damage was caused.

In late November Maoist guerrillas bombed Coca-Cola's only other factory in Nepal on the outskirts of Kathmandu soon after the government declared a state of emergency in order to contain the rebellion.

The government and the rebels entered a ceasefire in July, but three rounds of peace talks yielded little progress and the government declared the emergency after the rebels renewed their attacks.

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